Ilvermorny
by Astarpen
Summary: Set in the Harry Potter Universe. Snapshots of Charlie and Santana's relationship as they attend Ilvermorny.
1. Year One

**AN: So here's this story, this doesn't mean that I'm back (I'm on a break) I'm just looking for new sounding boards that have a bunch of free time, and want to be one of the _FIRST_ people to help me with a new story that I'm working on. It's a Faberry/Chartana fic filled with magic and religion and mature themes, plus I'd like to say super dark, I'm terrible at enticing people but that was my attempt. So if you want to be that person, PM me drop me a line, I'm very weird about this I need to click with someone and that person can't take it personally when I shoot down ideas, but I need someone to also bounce ideas off of.  
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 **AN2: This story was requested from me awhile back, like a long time, it's been done for awhile I'm just terrible at posting on FF these days. So basically this is where I am so drop me a review. Reviews are like neat little pieces of encouragement for the author.**

 **AN3: I'm chatty today,** **As a note, I started this before the Ilvermorny houses came out and I could have changed it but without out more information I couldn't make any equivalencies, so I just kept the Hogwarts houses, it's lazy on my part but whatever. Enjoy.,  
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 **Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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Frannie scowls as she watched her three younger siblings settling into the train car. This was mortifying. Not only did she have to deal with her bratty twin sisters, but there was also Brittany, who was apparently some sort of genius that had been granted special admittance to Ilvermorny a year ahead of schedule.

The whole thing was embarrassing, and if it were up to her she would simply pretend that they didn't exist.

It was only the threat of more long talks with her parents about the responsibilities of being the oldest Fabray that kept her from pretending that she was an only child. Her parents had made her swear that she was going to keep an eye on them. It wasn't fair, she was finally fourteen and she shouldn't have to play babysitter for the rest of her scholastic career.

"How long will it be until we get there?" Charlie asks curiously, pressing her face against the window to get the best view.

"We'll get there when we get there," Frannie retorts with a roll of her eyes, watching as Charlie rolls up her sleeves. She couldn't believe her mom had allowed her to get an oversized robe, when they had gone shopping for school supplies. Out of all her siblings, she found Charlie to be the most irritating, it was followed closely by Quinn and Brittany, though she had a soft spot for her youngest sister.

Brittany shoves Charlie out of the way so she could get a good look outside too, "They say it's in the mountains, right Frannie?"

"You'll just have to wait to find out."

Brittany nods and bites her lip, chewing on it nervously, "I hope we're all in the same house," she mumbles. It was her first time away from home but the thought of not being able to crawl into her sister's beds when she got scared worried her.

Frannie softens little at her baby sister's clear nervousness. "It'll be fine Britt; our entire family has been in Slytherin for years. It's probably not going to change anytime soon. We're Fabray's after all." Frannie reaches over to pat Brittany's leg, before glancing over at Quinn who had been quiet so far. She wasn't surprised to see Quinn with her nose buried in one of the first-year books, and she couldn't help but smirk. Maybe this year it would finally be there year. "Good luck. I'll see you in the Dining Hall for your Sorting."

The words are enough to finally cause Quinn's head to snap up at the realization that Frannie wasn't going to be staying with them. "You aren't riding with us? But—" She had thought Frannie would be giving them tips the whole train ride.

"Some of us have friends that we'd rather ride with." Frannie scoffs as she gets up. She doesn't really remember what it was like being a first year, but she's sure she wasn't as annoying as the twins. With that, she closes the door to their compartment and storms off to find her friends, bumping into two dark-haired first years that are trying to find somewhere to sit. "Watch it," she snaps at them before going to find the rest of her fourth-year friends.

Quinn scowls a bit, that was classic Frannie, abandoning her and leaving her to babysit Charlie and Brittany. She sighs inwardly a bit, at least the two of them were focused on the scenery and were chatting about the school. Charlie hadn't even pulled out her wand yet which meant that there probably wouldn't be any horrendous accidents.

 **~O~**

"When we step through these doors, you will be entering one of the finest schools of witchcraft and wizardry to ever exist. We are a strong, proud school and as you continue your education you will become the leaders of the magical community." The curly haired man in long dark robes droned on and Charlie tried to stay focused. She really did. But she'd heard about Ilvermorny since she was old enough to walk and she had been so nervous that she hadn't slept in weeks.

She had never seen a castle this big. Even her grandparent's manor, the biggest building she had ever seen, didn't even compare. As they had approached the castle, she had almost dismissed it as being part of the snow-capped mountain range. But as they grew closer she realized that the entire mountain had been shaped into the castle. It was magnificent. Frannie's descriptions of Ilvermorny didn't even do it justice. The huge doors alone were enough to alert Charlie that this was cooler than any place she'd ever been before. There were figures etched all along the marble walls. There were long corridors and endless passages and Charlie couldn't wait to get the chance to explore them.

"Welcome to Ilvermorny." The man smiled and pushed the doors open, revealing an enormous hall lined with tables and the older students peppered along the benches.

Charlie follows along with the other first years, focused on trying not to make a fool out of herself and steps carefully between the two tables in the center of the room. She's being so careful that she doesn't realize that the girl in front of her had stopped and crashed hard into the other girl's back. The older kids surrounding them snicker as Charlie sends the other girl slamming to the ground.

"Charlie." Quinn hisses, mortified that her twin had screwed up on their first day.

"It was an accident!"

The girl on the floor glares at her and allows Quinn to help her back to the feet. "You aren't even going to apologize?" She scoffs, brushing off her robes.

Charlie can practically feel everyone staring at her and gulps. She's ten and she already feels like her life is going to be over. Trying not to blush or let anyone know how stupid she felt, she shrugs with a bravado she doesn't feel. "It's not like I did it on purpose." She defends.

Santana scowls but seems to be aware that everyone else is waiting on them and turns back to follow the group.

Charlie glances around, wincing when she catches Frannie's glare. Would they kick her out? It really had just been an accident. Maybe if she said sorry?

But none of the teachers seem to be ready to send her home right now. She lets out a huge sigh of relief and lets Quinn grab her and pull her close. "I swear it was just an accident," she mumbles to Quinn.

"Shush, it's our first day and we need to make a good impression, now people are going to think we're klutzes, so can you just pay attention for five minutes? You can make a fool of yourself after we get sorted." Quinn forces a smile onto her face and adjusts making sure to keep one hand on Brittany. Now she understood a bit of Frannie's pain. Watching both her younger sisters was a bit of a pain in the ass.

Charlie nods absentmindedly, ignoring the professors as they start calling out names as she continues to inspect the rest of the castle. She finally looks up when she hears Brittany's name being called, but it's only for a moment as the entire ceiling seems to be alight with silently exploding fireworks and she wonders what spell they used to make it. The older students seem to be unimpressed with the sorting ceremony and all too late she realizes she should have been focusing on what everyone else had to do.

Brittany has a stricken look on her face and Charlie panics a little. Was it really that awful? She glances over at Quinn who doesn't seem too freaked out so she guesses that it wasn't really that bad.

It seems to take an agonizingly long time but after a minute a white flame bursts from the goblet and turns a clear shade of yellow with black sparks.

"Hufflepuff!" The professor announces proudly and Brittany grins before making her way to join the other Hufflepuff's. She doesn't seem disappointed that it's not Slytherin, so Charlie flashes her an encouraging smile and claps along with the other students.

"Charlotte Fabray." The curly haired professor calls her name.

Charlie gulps and steps forward. She's heard rumors about sorting for years but her parents had always laughed it off and said that she would find out at her own sorting. She wished she had paid better attention to what the other first years did, but she had been too enamored with trying to take in every detail of the large castle. A large pedestal sits in the middle of the room with a large goblet on top of it. beside the curly haired professor who grabs her hand. He seems to think her reluctance has more to do with anxiety than the fact that she has no idea what to do. She lets him tug her hand in the right direction and gasps when he pricks her finger and lets a drop of blood fall to the pedestal.

The droplet falls directly in the center of the bowl and for a second, she's not sure what it's supposed to do. It's just blood and it just sits there until it suddenly seems to move. It bubbles and boils over itself and she glances back down at her finger, surprised that her blood seems to have multiplied. She feels her heart practically stop as a bunch of concerns she had never even thought to consider flood her mind. What if there isn't a house for her? Or they send her home—suddenly, a white flame bursts forward and slowly turns to a deep shade of green.

"Slytherin."

It's like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders and she straightens up pleased with herself. Both her parents had been in Slytherin and her grandparents. It was a family tradition and sure Brittany had been the one to break with tradition, but she imagined her parents already knew that Brittany wasn't exactly like them. She flashes a small smile at Brittany who does look a bit disappointed that they were separated, but she immediately turns to the table along the far side of the wall that had erupted in applause.

"Of course, someone like you would be Slytherin."

Charlie frowns at the words and glances at the girl that she had bumped into who was glaring at her, but she shrugs it off and heads towards Frannie who didn't exactly look pleased. "I did it!" Charlie smiles proudly as she is patted on the back a few times by her new housemates.

Frannie groaned, she had suspected Brittany didn't have what it took to be a Slytherin, and that her personality fit more with Hufflepuff than anything, but she had hoped that Charlie wouldn't be able to bother her.

"Lucy Fabray." The curly haired professor called out and watched as Quinn stumbled forth.

Charlie leans forward eagerly, ready to cheer with the rest of her new house for Quinn. They had never been separated ever. They still shared a room at home, it was obvious that Quinn belonged with them. She watched as a drop of Quinn's blood falls directly onto the bowl. Charlie waits priming herself up to cheer for her sister when there is a bit of a pause. The flame bursts up but stays white far longer than it had with Charlie and Brittany. Quinn looks a little panicked at the delay but gradually the flame morphs into a brilliant shade of blue with bronze jets sparking at the edge of the flame.

"What's that?" Charlie hisses just before the table beside them erupts in cheers.

"Ravenclaw!"

Frannie's jaw drops immediately in horror, Ravenclaw was certainly better than Gryffindor, but it wasn't Slytherin. "Shit." She could already tell that there was a howler with her name written on it. She sinks down on the bench a bit when her friends look at her. Generations of Fabray's and July's had been Slytherin's and it had been under her watch that the Fabray name had been besmirched. Her parents were going to murder her and then disown her. At least Charlie hadn't gotten into Gryffindor, which was what she had originally thought Charlie would get into. At least then she wouldn't mind the Howler, and Charlie would probably get one too.

Charlie clapped and shot a wounded look at her twin sister who shrugged at her as she sat down with the Ravenclaws. She rubbed her arm nervously, she had never roomed with anyone but Quinn before, what if they snored or talked in their sleep? She looks over at Frannie who looked a bit pale. "It's okay Frannie, we're going to be house buddies, right?"

Frannie grimaced at the thought of being stuck with Charlie for another three years, "Why did it have to be you?" Between the three of them, Charlie had to be the worst pick. At least with Quinn and Brittany they'd leave her to her own devices. Charlie would probably bother her and ask for help in everything. She wasn't particularly bright.

Charlie shrugs and smiles at Frannie, before turning her eyes back to the rest of the sorting. Her eyes falling on the person she had bumped into, she really hoped that she wasn't in Slytherin together.

"Santana Lopez."

The girl she had nudged shoots Charlie a glare and Charlie makes a mental note of the name. Maybe she'll apologize later, or whatever—but it's better to be prepared. It doesn't seem to take nearly as long for the flame to turn red with gold sparks. "Gryffindor!" Charlie smirks to herself and rolls her eyes. Figures.

 **~O~**

Every castle had a dungeon, and it sort of made sense that their potions class was in the dungeon, at least that's what Charlie personally felt as she made her way to her new classroom. She found it odd that no one had given them a tour. She had asked Frannie who had given her a blank look and walked away. She was probably still horrified and mildly embarrassed about the howler that had arrived at breakfast.

Finding breakfast had been relatively easy, she had just needed to follow most of the Slytherin's in the morning, and she was grateful for her roommate, Mercedes had made a prefect explain exactly how to get to the Potions dungeon before breakfast, and then asked for a reminder just to check. She slips in ahead of most of the rest of the class and feels a rush of relief that at least she wasn't going to be late for her first class.

She steps past the chiseled granite columns that surround shelves upon shelves of potions ingredients. The entire room smells like a musty old closet and she finally decides to sit at a table next to the window for some fresh air. She taps her quill ready to take extensive notes, the only advice Frannie had given her was that potions would be the hardest class she was in. Her parents expected good marks and she wasn't going to let them down.

She shifts a bit on the bench so that she could make room for Mercedes who had an irritated look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Gryffindor," Mercedes whispers and Charlie peeks a bit to take a look to the Gryffindor's entering the room, with their red and gold ties.

Her eyes fall on Santana who catches her gaze and she can't help but stick out her tongue at her. She grins when she's met with a scowl. "We hate them, right?"

"Didn't you pay attention to the history lesson yesterday?"

"No, I was poking around the common room, and trying to talk to Frannie."

"You mean the sister that really doesn't like you?" Mercedes asked.

"Yeah—well no, I'm sure that Frannie loves me, she's just prickly like that." Charlie explains. "It runs in the family. She's like my aunt Cassandra. You know tough and stuff."

Mercedes nods and shifts a bit, to try and avoid the Gryffindor's, "I wish we could take our classes with anyone else, but we have this, charms and defense of dark arts with them. We have transfiguration, astronomy and history of magic with Ravenclaw, herbology and flying with Hufflepuff." Mercedes reminded Charlie, she seemed like the type of person who was a bit of a space case. From what she had heard from others, who were obviously talking behind her back she seemed like she belonged in Hufflepuff. But they were roommates and she was just going to have to deal with it.

Charlie shifted a bit, it was all exciting, she was super excited for Charms and defense of the dark arts, she wanted to learn cool spells and maybe finally be able to prank Frannie a bit. She pulls out her wand from her pocket, and notices Mercedes staring at it curiously. "It's cool, right? The wand guy, said it's elm with Wendigo heartstrings. He said that it's super powerful but a bit on the difficult to control. I think he was being a bit weird about the whole thing, I mean it feels right you know?"

"Really mine is—" Mercedes began only to stop talking when a tall woman with short hair entered the room. Almost immediately the room went silent, and Charlie turned to face her.

"Alright mouth-breathers, I want to be here even less than you do so do not make me repeat myself. I'm Professor Sylvester and most of you aren't good enough to even sit in this classroom. I don't have patience for screw-ups so try not to blow yourselves up."

She looks around the room and frowns when no one laughs. That had been a joke, but these pipsqueaks probably couldn't understand a joke if it hit them upside the head. "Fine. Then let's see how dismal your magical education has been. Question: your idiot lab partner might have poisoned you. Out of all the items available in this room, what could you take to prevent yourself from dying a horrible painful death?"

She scowls when none of the snivelling twerps even dare to raise their hand. "Really Slytherin? Gryffindor? I thought you two were both supposed to—"

Finally, a hand shoots up. She doesn't have a whole lot of hope for a right answer, but at least one of them is brave enough to try. "Finally. Five points to Gryffindor for not being a pansy ass. You. What's your guess?"

"A bezoar."

"What's your name Gryffindor?"

"Santana Lopez." The girl clears her throat nervously and Charlie's glad that she isn't already on the teacher's radar.

She watches the class for a moment with hard eyes before softening a little. "Good. Minus five points from Slytherin for being a bunch of babies. Another five points to Gryffindor for actually being right."

The dusty room was wreaking havoc on Charlie's allergies. Her nose twitched and she tried really hard not to sneeze and pay attention instead. She was taking notes. This was serious. But she couldn't help it and scrunched her nose up feeling a huge tickle at her nose.

She sneezes loudly. Everyone in the room turns to her as the teacher pauses and looks at her with an air of disappointment. "Are you quite finished?"

But she wasn't. The only thing worse than trying to hold back a sneeze when you didn't want to interrupt people was knowing that there were two more coming. Her eyes watered with the effort but if she could just— "Achoo"

"Dia te bendiga." The annoying brunette in front of her mutters, idly swishing her wand with the words.

Charlie's just about to ask what she said when another sneeze sounds through the dusty room. When the rest of the class turns to look at her, each of the other kids erupt in a fit of giggles. Charlie gasps when she looks down at herself to see that her entire skin has been radiated. She's glowing and everyone is staring at her. "What—"

"You. Barbie Glows-a-lot. Go to the nurse's office." Sue barely hides her amused smirk. "And next time learn some counter-curses. If pranks are going to be pulled in my class then you'd better make sure you get even without getting anyone else." She looks pointedly at Santana and nods firmly. "Five points to Gryffindor for an excellent hex. Next time, don't do it in front of me."

"But I didn't—"

"That's not fair!" Charlie interrupts.

"Do you have cotton in your ears, Glow Worm? Go to the nurse's office." Professor Sylvester commands, leaving no room for argument. "Or should I take fifty points off Slytherin?"

Charlie stops immediately noting that all her fellow Slytherin's are glaring at her. She scowls, before she storms off to the medical wing fuming. She hadn't even done anything wrong. Whatever that other girl did was too far. She grits her teeth as she tries to hurry quickly lest anyone else catch sight of her glowing skin. If Santana Lopez thought she could pull a prank on her, then Charlie was going to get even. No matter what it took.

 **~O~**

A few hours later, she's only emitting a soft glow and it's good enough that most people won't even notice. She slinks back to the library to meet Quinn, it was rare for her to skip lunch but she needed to catch up. She's not a huge fan of the library, but Quinn seems obsessed with getting top marks and she's glad when she finally collapses in the seat across from Quinn and Brittany.

"Charlie, you look radiant." Brittany snickers. Everyone in their year has been talking about it.

Charlie scowls. "Funny."

Brittany grins. "Thanks."

"Can I have your Potions notes?" she asks with a sigh. She had missed at least three classes which was not fun, it meant that she was going to need to catch up. "And your herbology and history of magic notes? Please Quinn."

"No. You should have paid attention."

"I didn't get to go to class." Charlie huffs. She turns to Brittany for a moment, "Can I see your notes?"

Brittany grinned and pushed her herbology notes to Charlie. "I drew pictures."

Charlie stared at the child-like drawings and Brittany's weird notes on the side and turned to look back at Quinn. "I'll share half the money that mom and our aunts gave me this morning for getting into Slytherin."

"Hey! My notes are awesome!"

"I know they are Britt, but Quinn's notes are probably super detailed and I don't have time to figure out your shorthand," Charlie responds, flashing Brittany a small smile.

Quinn looks up from her book. She hadn't gotten a howler from her parents, which meant they were accepting this better than she had expected. But they certainly hadn't sent her money like they did with Charlie. That's part of why she had to do really well, she had to show them that just because she was a Ravenclaw didn't mean she was going to be less of a wizard. But having a little extra spending money didn't seem like that bad of a thing. "I want seventy percent."

"No way." Charlie's jaw drops. "Fifty-fifty."

Quinn frowns. "Fine, but you'll owe me."

"Owe you what?"

"I haven't decided. But you'll owe me a favor that I can collect any time."

Charlie groans but doesn't really see another way out of this. Quinn also had no idea how much she had gotten from her parents, which meant that she would only be getting a quarter. She was a Slytherin after all. She needed to start acting like it or she was going to be the butt of all the jokes for the rest of her school life. "Are you sure you aren't a Slytherin?"

"Do you want the notes or not?"

"Fine." Charlie huffs. It's as good of a deal as she's going to get. She holds out her hand for Quinn to let her copy her notes.

"They're back in my room, I was going to study with my roommate during our study period, you're free to join us."

Charlie huffs at this, that wasn't what she wanted but she also didn't want Quinn to take it back, "I can't get into the Ravenclaw common room—"

"We're going to be studying in the library," Quinn interrupted. She narrowed her eyes at Charlie, "You're not allowed into the Ravenclaw common room, not that you could answer the riddle."

"I bet I could," Charlie muttered crossing her arms over her chest. She frowned not wanting to argue with Quinn and instead gets up to go find a book on charms and hexes, "We have transfiguration next, maybe I can learn something in there that will let me get revenge."

"You should give her cat ears."

Charlie grinned, it wasn't a bad idea but she wasn't an idiot. She didn't want to get into any trouble, "Maybe when I figure out how to do that," Charlie admits after a moment. "But first I'm going to make her pay for making me a _glow bug_."

"You do that," Quinn responded shaking her head. Charlie was probably going to get herself expelled. Which would probably mean that Frannie would get another howler, which was rather amusing. At the very least she'd probably end up costing Slytherin a few hundred points. She flicks her eyes towards Charlie who immediately begins to peer through the books that were around her and she raises a brow. Charlie didn't _study_. She thought it was boring. This really wasn't going to end well and if she was a good person she would probably talk to Frannie to bully Charlie into stopping but Charlie _was_ a Slytherin. She was sort of curious to see what her twin came up with. She wasn't expecting anything _fantastic_ or anything of the sort.

 **~O~**

"Well, at least you're not as bright as a light bulb anymore," Mercedes offered poking Charlie in the side. She was personally glad that it was over, they had gone over the different types of transfiguration magic, and while it had been interesting only a few Ravenclaws and Charlie had managed to successfully complete the Switching spell. It was obvious that she had stopped paying attention after that, instead going back to planning her prank.

Charlie scowled, "Frannie and her friends laughed at me and called me glow bug," Charlie muttered, annoyed. She didn't like being embarrassed like that, and the teachers weren't going to do anything about it which meant that she needed to figure something out. Something that would make Frannie think twice about making fun of her, and something that let everyone else in her year know that she was not to be trifled with.

Mercedes shook her head, she didn't want to know what Charlie had planned, plausible deniability and all that. "So, can you help me with the switching spell and the homework tonight?"

Charlie blinked as she comes back down to earth and nods to Mercedes, "Yeah sure, I'm going to the library during our study period to get my twin's notes. I think we're going to form a study group or something. The switching spell wasn't that hard."

"You got it on your _third_ try—"

"Yeah but Quinn got it on her _first_ try," Charlie grumbled. This was just what she needed, Quinn showing her up in class. "We can't let Ravenclaw win this year. Frannie said that Slytherin was going through a drought and I want bragging rights for the summer. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and _definitely_ Gryffindor can't win."

"Too bad we're going to."

Charlie wheels around and scowls at her nemesis, " _You_."

Santana smirked, "Glad to see that you're still lighting up the world, at least a Slytherin is good for something." she throws in before pushing past her. Both Rachel and Tina had suggested apologizing, but there was no way that she was going to apologize to that stuck up bitch.

Charlie reaches for her wand immediately only to have Mercedes latch onto her arm. "We can't afford to lose anymore points, we're already in third place, and the older students blame you."

Charlie scowled and pulled her arm away. Pretending that she had given up. When Mercedes pulls away she grabs her wand, "Hey, slug-breath."

Santana stops and turns to Charlie despite Tina trying to tug her away, "Is that the best you can come up with—"

" _Slugulus Eructo_!" Charlie flicks her wand at Santana, the green tinged light hitting her as people jumped away.

Santana blinked and stared at Charlie as the rest of the first years between both houses looked at her. She felt fine and she wasn't glowing which was a positive. "Ha, guess that didn't—" It's only then that she feels it, the gurgling in her gut and she takes a step back covers her mouth immediately letting out a burp. What she doesn't expect is the disgusting taste in her mouth, followed by something wriggling. Almost immediately she spits it out into her hand her eyes widening in shock.

"Oh my god is that a _slug_?"

" _Gross_!"

The only thing worse than vomiting up a _slug_ was the slime that came along with it. Santana stared at the floor in horror as her stomach churned and the slime dripped from her hand. She heaves and two slugs splat heavily against the floor. They're nearly an inch thick and wriggling as they squirm.

"Hmm, impressive. Fifty points to Slytherin for finally growing a backbone and acting like Slytherin is supposed to act. Another fifty points for a rather advanced charm for a first year. Maybe you're not a complete loss glow bug." Sue says as she strolls down the hall, rather impressed that Charlie hadn't fired on Santana when her back was turned. The sound of slugs hitting the ground catches her attention and she jumps to the side a bit. "Minus ten to Gryffindor for—making a mess."

"What? That's not _fair_." Santana groaned before three more slugs fall from her mouth.

Sue narrows her eyes. "Don't care. But it only seems to be getting worse so get yourself to the medical wing, or at the very least get a bucket. No one is going to clean up your mess."

Santana shoots a dark glare at Charlie who flashes her a knowing smile before walking past her with her stupid Slytherin's.

"Have fun in the medical wing slug breath," Charlie sneers before carrying on getting a few pats on the back. "Slug breath." She adds for measured effect, feeling entirely justified as the other Slytherin's burst out into raucous laughter.

 **~O~**

Charlie crashed through the doors to the library later that evening with Mercedes beside her. She had lost track of time and then got turned around. It hadn't hurt that Frannie had given her a brief head nod of acknowledgement, and she had been riding that high. She was a bit of a hero in the Slytherin common room. "Come on, Quinn hates it when people are late." Charlie whispers to Mercedes.

"She'll forgive you. You're like _famous_." Mercedes shrugs. "But _sheesh_ , I sure don't want to get on your bad side. Burping up slugs is like—" Mercedes shudders at the thought, " _evil_."

Charlie did feel a little bad. Slugs were gross and she had made Santana miss all of her next class. But the spell _only_ lasted for ten minutes so overall it wasn't _that_ bad. "We _are_ Slytherin." Charlie smirks, turning the corner to find her two sisters already pouring over the books. She stops short when a disturbingly familiar Gryffindor seated across from Brittany. "What are _you_ doing here?"

" _I_ was invited." Santana stands and reaches for her wand.

But Charlie wasn't about to be one-upped. "So was _I._ "

"It's bad enough that Rachel is rooming with your twin, but no one said that _you_ were coming," Santana turned to Rachel. "Do you know what she did to me?"

"I'd say we're about even considering you turned me into a glow stick," Charlie sneers still gripping onto her wand.

"I was burping up _slugs and slime_. Do you know how _disgusting_ that is?" Santana shoots back. "I just accidentally—"

"Shush!" Rachel snaps at Santana, flushing when other members of their year turn to look at them and glare. "This is a library and Quinn's my roommate Santana, and Charlie's her sister. Which means that you two are going to have to learn to live with one another."

"At the very least you're going to have to learn to tolerate each other if you want us to make sure you both don't flunk out," Quinn adds not bothering to look up. She does stop for a moment and look at Charlie who looks semi-betrayed. "Look you two can prank each other and hate each other all you want, but not when we're trying to study. So, unless you're planning to practice what you learned in charm class today, put those wands away."

"Do they have to? I want to watch them duel," Brittany adds unhelpfully. Grinning at Charlie.

"They don't know enough for this to be interesting and they don't know how, and I don't think you want to be burping up slugs," Quinn reminded Brittany dryly before feeling Rachel kick her under the table. She forces a smile onto her face at Santana. "No offense."

Santana scowled and pointed her wand at Charlie, she didn't want to alienate her friends right now but there was no way that she was letting Charlie skate after what she did. She would just have to come up with something even worse than burping out slugs. She just didn't have any idea what that was right now. She narrows her eye, "Don't think that this is over, glow stick."

"Wouldn't dream of it slug breath," Charlie responds taking a seat her wand still in her hand. She wasn't going to disarm herself until Santana did and even then, she knew she'd never be able to trust the Gryffindor again. Or any Gryffindor and she also knew that Santana was going to need to retaliate. She would need to study more charms so she could remain one step ahead of Santana. Which shouldn't be hard, she was just a Gryffindor.

Santana eyes her warily, struck with the same hesitation before finally giving in. "Fine. Whatever. Just don't sit next to me."

"Wouldn't dream of it slug breath. You do know they have mints for that, right?" Charlie scoffs, settling down at the open end of the table with Mercedes following suit.

Santana turns to retort only to have Rachel nudge her with a pointed look. She rolls her eyes but settles back down. If she can't get even with Charlie _here_ she's just going to have to find another way. She stops when Quinn slides her potion's notes toward Charlie and catches a glimpse of a fundamental mistake that's going to render the potion useless. "Uh—Quinn? I think you made a mistake."

"I don't _make_ mistakes." Quinn scoffs with an air of superiority that feels too much like her twin.

Santana narrows her eyes. She _should_ have stayed silent and let Quinn fail but she was trying to do the _right_ thing. "You have that the potion needs to be stirred six times, clockwise. It's—"

"That's enough." Charlie huffs, reaching across the table to snatch the notes. "None of us are dumb enough to fall for that. So why don't you mind your own business Slimer."

Santana shakes her head and turns back to her own books. Fine. If that's how they wanted it to be, then they could face the consequences.


	2. Year Two

Charlie smirks at the Slytherin table on their first night back. The start of her second year so far was less eventful than the first, but Charlie was itching to try out some of the spells she had practiced over the summer. It wasn't that much, but her Year 2 books had given her a couple of ideas. She glances around quickly and scoots over a little to get a clean view of Santana at the Ravenclaw table.

"What are you doing?" Frannie hisses from beside her.

Charlie shrugs and tries to hide her grin. "Nothing."

Frannie arches her brow, she'd know that look anywhere. It's the look that Charlie and Quinn both had before they drank all of her dad's expensive Romanian Rum. Or the look that Brittany had before she turned the entire garden pink. It's the look that reminds her that she hates being the oldest Fabray. "Whatever it is, make sure you don't get the rest of us in trouble."

"I'm not going to."

Frannie eyes her sister closely. "I don't believe you."

"I've been practicing _all_ summer. Trust me. No one is going to catch me." Charlie insists confidently. Muttering softly under her breath, she grins at Frannie and then turns back to the task at hand and smirks when a clear stream shoots through her wand and hits Santana square in the chest.

She watches gleefully as Santana takes a bite of her dinner roll and pulls a face of disgust. She can barely keep herself from bursting out laughing.

Frannie follows her line of sight. "What was that?"

"It's a charm that makes everything she eats taste like soap. I've been working on that all summer."

"How the hell did you do that?"

Charlie shrugs and ducks away from Santana's glare as she looks around to find her. It had taken a little bit of work but last year their professor had taught them how to make everything taste like chocolate. This year they'd be learning some cleaning charm, so she had just had to work out the right mix between the two. "I practiced practically all summer."

"On who?" Frannie asks, then has a sickening flash as she remembers complaining about that very thing. "Are you—?" Frannie punches her sister hard. All summer her parent's thought the rest of them were crazy.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Next time, don't use me as your guinea pig."

"I only used you as a guinea pig the first time, the rest of the time I just did it because you were being mean to me," Charlie retorts not looking at Frannie as she notices Santana switching seats so she could fire something back. "I thought maybe you would be honored that I picked you first."

Frannie rolled her eyes. "Just watch where you sleep."

A flash of light blinds them both and Charlie doesn't have to wonder where it started from. It lasts for a good few seconds before cutting out in an instant.

 **~O~**

Santana glared at Charlie as they all sat around a table for lunch. It _sucked_ that Charlie had somehow managed to befriend every last one of her friends. She wasn't bothered though. Charlie probably felt the same way judging from the daggers Charlie kept shooting her way, so she would deal with it. This time around their respective friends had become a sort of prank free zone.

Though that was only because she was sure that Brittany, Quinn and Rachel had all insisted that they would never ever hang out with them again if they were caught in the crosshairs of their feud. Which had only escalated from the slug incident. The worst part was every time Charlie felt petty she'd go straight back to the damn slugs.

"So, are you going to try out for the Quodpot team?" Finn asks excitedly, flopping down on the bench beside Charlie. "I hear Slytherin as an opening for a mid-field carrier."

Quinn snorts at this and goes back to flipping through the history of magic that she was reading, while Brittany just laughs loudly.

Finn flushes embarrassed not quite sure what was so funny with his question. "What did I say?" Finn looks around to see if anyone else is in on it. He's glad when he's not the only one that's confused.

"Nothing. Charlie's just a _terrible_ Quodpot player." Brittany explains, carefully swerving out of the way to avoid Charlie's half-hearted punch.

"Hardly, I simply don't know why everyone's so obsessed with _Quodpot_." Charlie rolls her eyes in that pretentious way that Santana had grown accustomed to. "It's a stupid game, that doesn't take that much skill compared to a great game like Quidditch. You know, in England at Hogwarts they don't even _have_ house Quodpot teams, because it's _stupid_."

"Yeah, well the Quod _explodes_ , so it is hands down cooler than Quidditch." Puck scoffs, stuffing his face with the snacks that magically replenish themselves.

"You get to hit people with clubs in Quidditch," Charlie points out glancing at Santana who flips her off.

"Charlie just hates Quodpot because she's _scared_."

"I'm not _scared_." Charlie insists, but everyone can see the slight blush that dusts her ears. "I'm just _very concerned_ about carrying around a stupid quod that could explode at any minute. There's not really even any finesse to the game."

"Well I'm trying out." Santana announces. Her parents haven't ever really been big on sports and she's only vaguely familiar with the rules but she loves to fly and she'll jump at any chance to get a leg up on Charlie.

"Of course, you are." Charlie rolls her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Brittany nudges Charlie and gives her a look. She's not sure why Charlie and Santana can't seem to get along. "Good luck." Brittany grins.

"I bet you don't even make the team." Charlie sneers despite herself.

Santana narrows her eyes and sticks out her tongue before deciding that Charlie's really not worth it.

"Real mature." Charlie retorts.

"Fuck you." Santana responds pulling her wand out when she sees Charlie go for hers.

"Alright ladies." Puck clears his throat when his voice cracks. "Let's put our wands aside for now."

 **~O~**

Charlie grumbles when the only spot in the library is directly across from Santana. _Figures_. Santana's been impossible to be around since she made the Quodpot team. ' _A prodigy'_ they called her. Yeah right. Anybody could take a quod and move it up the field to throw it in a pot before it exploded. It wasn't _rocket science_.

It was stupid.

Anyway, her ego had grown to the size of a planet and Charlie was itching to pull her back down to Earth. But that didn't mean she went _looking_ for opportunities to be around Santana. Maybe she could go back to the common room and figure it out—but this paper was due tomorrow and she never studied well when she was in the common room, so—

"Is there a problem, Ms. Fabray?" Professor Washington eyes her with clear disdain.

"No." Charlie clears her throat and makes her way to the open seat, flopping her books down as quickly as she can.

Santana doesn't look up, but Charlie can practically feel her shooting daggers at her with her mind. It takes her longer than she would like to pull out her spell books and parchment paper, lining everything up just right so that she can crack this assignment and get on with the rest of her day. She frowns when she realizes she forgot to write down the pages that they were supposed to cover.

Glancing around, she groans when she realizes that there isn't a single second year in the room. "Santana?" She whispers, clearing her throat. "What pages does the Cornish Pixie essay cover?"

"Didn't you write it down?" Santana scoffs. "I'm not your mother, if you didn't write it down you should figure it out yourself."

"Oh, come on." Charlie grumbles. "I would help you."

"No, you wouldn't. You'd lord it over me and make me beg. So, I'm going to do one better. I'm _not_ going to tell you and you can figure it out on your own."

Charlie scowls and Santana turns back to her Charms homework. Feeling a stroke of brilliance, Charlie glances past Santana to catch the name of the book directly behind her. " _Accio Herbology Through the Ages,_ " she mutters, beaming proudly when the book shakes itself loose and flies toward her, thumping the back of Santana's head as it whizzes past her. "Oops, sorry." Maybe that would teach her to stop being such a bitch.

Santana glares and Charlie shrugs with a proud smirk. Santana pulls out her wand as discreetly as she could as Charlie reads the front cover, " _Cantis._ " She mumbled the Jinx as Charlie opens the book to flip to the page where she wanted to go.

" _Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know  
That something wasn't right here  
Oh baby, baby, I shouldn't have let you go  
And now you're out of sight, yeah  
Show me how you want it to be  
Tell me baby 'cause I need to know now, oh because—" _

Charlie slammed the book closed as everyone in the library turned to glare at their table. Hopefully she hadn't attracted the attention of—

"Minus fifty points for Slytherin, I've already discussed this with the two of you. You want to prank each other _don't_ do it in the library. Minus a hundred points for Gryffindor for casting the jinx, now the two of you _get out_ before I start taking off more points." Professor Washington watched as the two of them scrambled to pack their things up and ran out of the library. " _No running!_ "

 **~O~**

It's only a few weeks later when Santana is mounting her broom for her first Quodpot game. She wasn't nervous _per se_ , but she was the youngest forward on her house team in nearly a decade. She _really_ didn't want to screw this up.

"Relax Lopez." A gargantuan fourth year defender nudges her. "It's not going to be that bad."

Santana nods and gulps. She looks up to the stands and waves to where Tina and Rachel are sitting with the Fabrays and all but Charlie wave back supportively.

The whistle blows and Santana pushes off trying to ignore the rapid thumping in her chest and the sweaty palms that are tightly gripping her broom. After the coin toss, Hufflepuff has the first go and she's just a little glad that she can get her bearings first. She quickly falls into formation, and the other team take turns passing it back and forth until they manage to surge pass the half-pitch line. She tightens her hands against her broom and lets herself fly. It's just like in practice and Santana feels her nerves calm a little. She swirls around one of the eleven opposing players on the Hufflepuff team and cuts clearly toward the scoring circle and nudges a stray Hufflepuff away from the pot.

The crowd roars and Santana's pretty sure that she did something right because none of her teammates seem to pay her any mind. She can tell that the Hufflepuff with the ball is starting to get nervous because the quod is shaking in his hands. He lobs it hard, trying desperately to make it from the scoring circle to the pot. Santana grits her teeth, adrenaline and maybe a bit of pure luck on her side. She ducks down, urging her broom forward and at the last-minute turns sharply to send the quod flying right back at the terrified Hufflepuff. He doesn't have time to react, as soon as the quod hits his fingertips it erupts in a loud explosion.

The referee whistles loudly. "Coleman. Out. Gryffindor quod."

 **~O~**

Sue coughed loudly and turned to look at the culprit of the latest explosion in her classroom, narrowing her eyes at the guilty party who looked as if she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her. " _Fabray_."

"Yes, Professor Sylvester?" Charlie asked forcing what she assumed was her most charming grin onto her face, despite the fact that she and Mercedes were covered in ash.

"Minus two-hundred points for Slytherin for your incompetence at _basic_ potion-craft. The sleeping draught is _not_ a difficult potion to learn—not to mention that this is the fifth time this semester that your ineptitude has caused a minor catastrophe."

Santana snorted from where she was sitting, trying not to take a bit of pleasure in the verbal reaming that Charlie was getting. She immediately looks away when Sue tilts her head towards her. There was no way she was getting pulled into this.

"Well—"

Sue holds up her hands, "I don't want to hear it. You have one of the worst grades in the year."

Charlie flushed in embarrassment as people around her chuckled, potions wasn't her thing. All the weird measurements and the attention needed—it was _boring_. "I—"

"I _don't_ care. Lopez, you're losing your semi-competent partner and I'm saddling you with Fabray for the rest of the semester, let's see if that helps her grades."

Santana's jaw dropped and she whipped around to look at Sue, "You're _kidding_."

"Do I look like I'm _kidding_? Though given the history between you two, I hope it goes without saying that if you prank each other in _my_ class, you will spend the rest of your second year cleaning out the cauldron's every single day." Sue frowns and points to Santana, "For every explosion that Miss Fabray causes, I will hold you personally responsible, and dock a hundred points from Gryffindor and a hundred and fifty from Slytherin. It's in _both_ your best interests to _get along_."

"But she's _impossible_ —" Santana blurts out the first thing she can think of. Charlie had caused an explosion in nearly every potion's class they've had since their first year.

"Looks like we will be in detention all year."

"If you prank me then I swear to—" Santana turns to stare at Charlie, reaching for her wand.

" _Enough_." Sue snaps causing them both to look at her and she shoots Charlie an unamused look. "This is just for the semester, but if the two of you continue, I can make this _permanent_. In fact, say another word in protest of this and I will."

Santana immediately shut her mouth and turned to glare at Charlie who had done the same thing.

"Good, now Mercedes switch seats with Santana and I'll go over the spell yet again, in hopes to stave off the incompetence." Sue orders as she stands up and pauses looking at Charlie and Santana again. There was _very_ little hope for Charlie but Santana was her _best_ student. She just needed a very good push in a _new_ direction. They both seemed motivated to one-up each other and she knew from how Holly Holliday spoke, Charlie was her best student by far. "Fabray, see me after class."

Charlie groans and nods, "Yes, Professor Sylvester." Maybe she should ask Frannie to tutor her, to get her grades up. Anything would be better than working with Santana for the long term.

 **~O~**

Santana sighed as she made her way towards the library, the Quodpot practice had been brutal, but with the Quodpot cup coming up, she _needed_ to be ready. Slytherin had come in second and she'd be _damned_ if she let Charlie's house win. She'd just have to contend with the _other_ Fabray. She didn't personally have a problem with Frannie but she still felt the urge to _beat_ Charlie's family in Quodpot.

She personally believed that her practice could have gone better if she had her personal cheerleading section watching her play. Rachel cheering her on generally made her play better, but for the last few practices Rachel had been absent. Something about a dueling club that had just started up. It seemed rather silly in her opinion. Wizards throwing spells at each other? It was _ridiculous_.

"I can't believe you _beat_ a fourth year!" Rachel gushed.

"She probably got lucky," Quinn grumbled not at all impressed with Charlie's good fortune.

"Luck had nothing to do with it, I'm a quicker draw than he is _not to mention_ that the spell I used was a fifth-year spell that I taught myself. I got into Frannie's charm textbook—don't tell her that though she might be mad at me, and I don't think I could beat Frannie." Charlie bragged and looked up at Santana and shot her a smug look.

"Frannie would probably enjoy mopping the floor with you," Brittany mused and looked up at Santana and then smirked. "Santana, over here! We're talking about how Charlie is like the _best_ duelist in the year. Professor Holliday said she was going to make her one of the captains for next year."

Santana scowls. So _that's_ why her friends had all abandoned her practice match. Charlie had probably made sure that they had missed it. "Really? You're the best duelist in our year? You can barely complete your potions homework without my help."

Charlie flushed at that leaned forward, "If you want proof, you could duel me _right now._ An unofficial one of course," she adds. She didn't need a second to recover or any of the proper protocols they had to follow if it was a real duel. It was like she had found her calling. Plus, not that she'd admit this to their friends, but the duel with the fourth year had been _easy_.

Santana pulled her wand, grateful that Professor Washington wasn't around. " _Fine_." She barks watching as Charlie stands to her feet. She knows enough dueling to go through the niceties. She steps several feet backward, refusing to back down to someone as arrogant as Charlie Fabray.

She waits patiently until Quinn rolls her eyes and huffs, standing directly in between them. "I can't believe you're doing this in a _library_ of all places."

"Where else are they supposed to duel. It's not like there is anyone else around." Brittany points out.

Quinn scowls, but has to concede. It is a Saturday, which means even the most studious Ravenclaws are probably taking a break. "Whatever. On three, Ready?" She looks to her twin and her roommate's best friend for confirmation. When both Santana and Charlie nod, she raises her hand. "One. Two. Three." On three, she lets her hand fall and steps back.

Charlie doesn't waste a breath before snapping her wrist into position. " _Expelliarmus_." She grins when Santana's wand is knocked cleanly out of her hand as it sails to the floor yards behind her. Santana whips around to glare at her and Charlie raises her wand once more. She enjoys Santana immediately bracing for impact but chooses not to hit her with something nasty. "I think we can all agree I win, right?" Charlie says looking at her friends. If she knew Santana she knew that it would _eat_ at her that she had clearly won. It would also bother Santana that she hadn't hit a finishing blow.

Santana stares horrified that she had lost so quickly to _Charlie_ of all people. Charlie who could barely follow along in potions class. How she had managed to scrape by last semester was _beyond_ her. Truthfully, she had expected to be burping up slugs again but Charlie had simply let her go—as if she _wasn't_ worthy of her time or at the very least a spell.

It was _insulting_. But the idea that Charlie was _actually_ better at something than her? That was something that she couldn't live with.

 **~O~**

Santana waited outside the Potion's dungeon, debating whether this was still the best plan. Going to Sue for help almost felt like cheating, but she definitely couldn't let _Charlie Fabray_ of all people beat her in this prank war.

Suddenly a voice sounds through the cold empty hallway. "Well? What are you waiting for Lopez? Either get in here or go away." It was Sue's voice, there was no mistaking it. But she wasn't anywhere in sight.

Santana looked around but didn't see anyone. She sighs and enters the classroom, spotting Sue grading papers, "Uh, Professor Sylvester?" Santana asks.

"Spit out Lopez, these _practice_ O.W.L.s. are not going to mark themselves you know."

Santana exhaled, steeling herself. Charlie might be some idiot savant in Charms but she knew her potions she just didn't know how to go about creating her own potions. "I need to get better at potions. I need to be creative with it—"

"To help you in your silly prank war that you have with Fabray?" Sue asks writing the words 'Troll' on someone's exam.

Santana hesitated for a moment, Professor Sylvester didn't really seem to care about their prank war unless they were both stupid enough to do it in her class. "I know that it would be easier to just go through Charms, but Charlie's already learning fifth year stuff because she picks it up so easily, I was _hoping_ that there was something I could do to even the score? She's _terrible at_ potions and maybe—"

"I don't see why you don't join the dueling club."

"Because I don't want her to see it coming," Santana admits. "Charlie—"

"Has a glaring weakness because she seems to favor flashy offensive maneuvers. But she's young the first person who defeats her will force her to fill that gap," Sue mused writing another 'Troll' on someone's paper. "I'm not against you using your potions knowledge to prank her back, I'm sure you can be quite creative if you choose, but it's going to be _quite_ a bit of extra work."

"I can put in the time!" Santana insists.

Sue looks up at Santana, she'd certainly make things interesting around here. "I have one _simple_ question for you? Have you read The Art of War?"

 **~O~**

"What's that?" Quinn asked looking at the small bottles that Santana had placed on the table that they were all studying at.

Santana grinned at the table leaning in to whisper, "Butterbeer, I got it from the Quod captain for doing such a good job so I split it up for everyone," Santana smiles. It hadn't cost her anything. "I thought we could all try it."

"But isn't it—" Rachel begins looking around the table but Puck and Finn both reached for the bottles and even Quinn was reaching for it. "Butterbeer has slight alcoholic content in it—"

"Live a little Rachel," Santana interrupted before looking at Charlie who was crossing her arms on the other side of the table. "Don't worry I even got something for you," Santana grumbles pushing a small bottle toward Charlie who studied it for a moment before picking it up. "You're welcome."

"I didn't say thank you," Charlie responds, watching as Brittany grabs her own. She should have given Frannie money to get them Butterbeer, but she had never thought of it. Another thing that Santana was better at than her.

Santana uncorks her bottle and holds it up, there wasn't enough butterbeer in this for any of them to feel the effects, but Charlie's had a special surprise in hers. "To midterms," she says holding her bottle up.

"Well, you probably need the help more than I do," Quinn responds and shrugs when Santana flips her off. But they all manage to clink their small glasses against one another.

Charlie finishes hers in a single gulp and puts it down on the table, "That's what the big fuss was about? It doesn't even taste that great." She complains, scratching her face.

"What are you talking about it tastes like _butterscotch_ ," Brittany grins. "Can you get more? Maybe we can have a party."

"I'll see what I can manage," Santana promises watching as Charlie continues to scratch at her face. "Hey Charlie?"

" _What_?"

"There's something on your face," Santana sings watching as everyone turns to look at her.

Sure, enough there was various bumps growing on Charlie's face and Charlie began to scratch her face even harder. She turns to Santana and glares at her, "What did you do?"

"Payback for the slugs," Santana said simply. "You might—ugh, your face looks _horrendous_ —I think I'm going to puke," she taunts.

"Oh, wow your face looks _disgusting_ ," Puck agrees turning away when one of the bumps turns leafy. "I'd go to the nurse if I were you."

Santana smirked, "Fungiface," she mocks and Charlie tries to pull out her wand when Quinn reaches over and grabs her wrist.

"We probably should get you to the nurse Charlie, hopefully there's an _antidote_."

"She only drank enough to last about half an hour," Santana says with a shrug. Sure, there was an antidote but she hadn't attempted to permanently disfigure Charlie.

Finn scrunched up his face, "So you're even now?"

"Like _hell_ ," Charlie sneers still attempting to scratch her face off.

Santana smirks, "Absolutely not, _Fungiface_." She was going to win this little prank war even if it took her till she _graduated_.


	3. Year Three

"Are you seriously still working on that Potion's paper?" Santana asked incredulously, "I thought Ravenclaw's were supposed to be freakishly smart. That was the easiest assignment Sue's ever given us." Santana scoffs as she shoves the book that Quinn had requested down the table. She was pretty sure that they had covered everything about bezoars when they were second years. She had finished the assignment ages ago.

Quinn sighs, wondering if she should feel bad for befriending Charlie's mortal enemy. It only takes her a second of thought more before realizing that she didn't actually care, and Santana wasn't really her _friend_. She was Rachel's friend. She takes the book and flips to the correct page. "Everyone knows that this stuff is easy for _you_."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you are practically a potions prodigy, not to mention the fact that you can make potions that the fifth years are struggling with."

"What? You mean Amortentia?" Santana shrugs. She had practiced that one as part of a prank that she then realized was too risky to pull off. Charlie never accepted food from her, or anything that had once been in her possession, and even if she did manage to trick Charlie into eating something, she didn't want Charlie attracted to _her_. No, it would have been better if she could have made her fall in love with a slug or something—she makes a mental note to try that out, sweet revenge for Charlie's first prank. "It's just _potions_. It's like mixing a bunch of ingredients together and hoping that it doesn't explode like a Quod after ten minutes."

"No. It's _potions_ which means if you screw up then you could kill someone." Quinn retorts and pulls the book back in front of herself, checking to make sure Santana didn't accidentally flip the page to something that wasn't relevant. "So, _some_ of us actually have to study."

Santana scowls. She's _bored_ and she needs to find something to do. "Where's the dimwit?"

"Finn?"

Santana's eyes raise at that, she wasn't Finn's biggest fan either but Rachel seemed to like the Hufflepuff boy. She didn't exactly understand why Quinn seemed to hate him. She personally thought Finn wasn't smart enough for Rachel. "No, your sister, I need to make sure that she did her homework correctly or Sue will make us stay behind and wash all the cauldrons after class."

"She's been hanging out with some of the other Slytherin's. It's Frannie's last year, and she is super stressed about her N.E.W.T.S. So, I think Charlie's trying to help her study and helping her out by being her bitch." Quinn smirks, she had never been so glad to be in Ravenclaw. Charlie had been volunteered by the entire house to be the one to deal with Frannie's moods. "Frannie's using her as a house elf basically. Our parents are hoping that Frannie's genius will rub off on Charlie and bring up her potion's mark."

Santana hummed, in response and smirks, she needed to go witness this herself. Someone else was making Charlie miserable, maybe she could point and laugh. Ruining Charlie's day was basically the most entertaining thing she could do right now. "See you later Tubber's."

Quinn studied Santana for a moment, maybe she should point out that Frannie was on a warpath, and if anyone got in her way there would be hell to pay. "Have fun with that," she says deciding that maybe getting into it with Frannie would put the fear of god into Santana and Charlie and get them to start acting their age.

Santana grinned and pulled out her wand, spinning it in her hand as she went on the hunt for her favorite prey. It doesn't take her long to stumble across the Slytherin's who are currently walking through the quad where Frannie is currently using Charlie as a pack mule. She's surrounded by a bunch of other seventh years who are currently putting their textbooks on top of Charlie's growing pile. She winces, almost feeling sorry for her mortal enemy. _Almost_. She grins and points her wand at Charlie lazily. " _Impedimenta_ ," she whispers watching as the light flashes from her wand. It's a sure-fire thing but of course Charlie trips at the last moment scattering all the textbooks, as everyone jumps out of the way. The grin slowly fades off Santana's face as the astray spell hits Frannie Fabray. "Shit," she swears her eyes widening as all eyes fly to her. She immediately steadies her wand hoping to think of something that would give her time to escape.

One of the Slytherin's immediately undoes her jinx on Frannie and the eldest Fabray pulls out her wand narrowing her eyes at Santana. "You little Gryffindor _shit_ , I'm going to fucking _end you_." Frannie sneers as she walks up to Santana deflecting every spell that Santana sends at her.

"It was an accident, I wasn't aiming for you! I'm sorry," Santana says wincing, as her wand suddenly flies from her hands and onto the ground behind her. She was absolutely _certain_ that Frannie was breathing fire, it was by far the scariest thing she had ever seen. She grimaces and braces herself, expecting this to hurt.

" _Slugulus Eructo!_ " A green light appears and slams into Frannie's back sending her stumbling forward as everyone turns to spot Charlie standing there with her wand out. Her hands were hands were scraped from the fall but there was an annoyed look on her face.

"Are you fucking—" Frannie lets out a loud burp before turning her face and expelling the contents of her stomach and mouth as massive slugs started to fall out. Her stomach lurches at the sight and the taste that's filled her mouth.

Charlie turns immediately quickly twisting away from one of the older Slytherins who try and grab her. " _Levicorpus_ ," she says in a bored tone causing all the seventh year Slytherins to suddenly start levitating. She wasn't even close to being done, she needed to move fast. " _Melofors,"_ she says grinning when their heads were suddenly encased in pumpkins. She glances at her sister who is glaring daggers at her as she throws up some more slugs. Charlie smirks at her before raising her wand at her. Frannie was going to _murder her_ but it was _so_ worth it. " _Melofors,"_ she said encasing Frannie's head with a pumpkin. She would continue to vomit slugs filling the pumpkin with slugs. Instead of taking it all in she twists around and begins to run grabbing Santana's arm as she passes and pulling her along. "Come on, this won't stop them for long."

Santana exhales and bends down to grab her wand as she follows Charlie, she was right it _wouldn't_ hold them for long. She grabs Charlie and yanks her into an empty classroom, closing the door. She gasps for air as Charlie slides to the ground. "Shit," she says as she begins to laugh as she slides to the ground.

Charlie glances over at Santana for a moment before she too begins to laugh, "We are so fucking dead," she manages to get out through her laughter.

Santana leans back against the wall of the classroom, the smile on her face fading as she realizes that she's in a room _stuck_ with her worst enemy. It's almost as if Charlie realizes it at the same time as they both grab their wands and point it at each other. "Why'd you save me?" Santana ask before the spells could start flying.

"Frannie was going to _murder_ you. As amusing at that would have been, I did Frannie a favor. If she killed you she would have been expelled. Also, if she were to kill you then I would totally fail potions, and then my parents would kill me."

Santana grimaces at that but shakes her head and slowly puts her wand down. "Well, _thanks_. Even if you did it for purely _selfish_ reasons."

"Well if anyone is going to kill you, it's probably going to be me," Charlie shrugs as she too puts her wand down.

"You're dead anyway, I can hide out in the Gryffindor common room, you're a _Slytherin_. They know where you sleep," Santana says with a shake of her head.

Charlie shrugs her shoulders, "Frannie's my sister. I imagine something very painful, but not lethal. She doesn't want the headache that is dealing with my parents, because she knows I'll rat her out to my dad and he'll send her a howler and dock her allowance. None of the other Slytherin's will touch me because Frannie is my sister. You on the other hand probably need to start hanging out around the seventh year Gryffindor's or something. Frannie doesn't forget and she will get you back."

Santana narrows her eyes, "None of this would have happened if you had just apologized on the first day of school."

"Me? You turned me into a fucking glow bug thus ruining my potions career. I missed the first day and I'm still catching up!" Charlie hisses.

"That was an accident!"

"Yeah, well this is _your_ fault," Charlie sniffs crossing her arms over her chest. "You couldn't just leave me to suffer alone? You had to attack me when I couldn't fight back?"

"Yes. Like you wouldn't have done the same thing," Santana retorts.

"Well, I wouldn't have _missed_ ," Charlie throws back at Santana.

"Excuse you? You _tripped_. Wait you're right, you probably wouldn't have _missed_. Because I'm not a _spaz_ like you are," Santana snipes back reaching for her wand as Charlie reaches for hers.

No spells are thrown as the door to the classroom slams open causing the two of them to turn and stare at Frannie Fabray who looked positively _incensed._

" _Fuck_." Charlie and Santana said at the same time as they immediately pointed their wands at Frannie.

" _Expelliarmus_." Frannie says calmly disarming the two of them and watching as they immediately backed up. She grins sadistically as she slowly closes the door to the classroom. " _Confringo_ ," Frannie says a blue light erupting from her wand and slamming into the two of them and sending them crashing into the far wall. "I'm going to teach you little shits a _lesson_."

 **~O~**

"Nice hats," Brittany giggled as she studied both Santana and Charlie both pulled their hats down a bit further on their heads.

"You guys got lucky that all Frannie did was remove all your hair, and threw you both around a bit. It could have been far worse," Quinn mused trying not to laugh at her twin and Santana's misfortune.

"Last time I ever do the right thing," Charlie mutters as she narrows her eyes at Santana.

"Right thing? You made it so much worse! She left us petrified until the next class _found us_ ," Santana hissed.

Rachel cleared her throat and rested a hand on Santana's arm before the wands could be pulled out, "I think this is a teaching moment, no more pranks. Because you're going to end up getting someone caught in the crossfire, and they'll do something worse than Frannie did."

"Yeah," Finn says throwing his arm around Rachel's shoulders.

Charlie stares at Finn and then makes a face, wondering when that had happened. Judging from the daggers that Quinn was sending him, she wasn't thrilled with this turn of events. She slides her wand out as she turns her attention to Santana. "Aren't you going to say thank you for saving you?"

"Saving me? You made it _worse_!"

"Frannie was going to kill you," Charlie argued. "I saved your ass. Also, how is it going searching for the damn hair-regrowing charm. Santana looks like shit bald."

Santana glared at Charlie tempted to hit back but deciding to leave it alone. Charlie had taken half of what Frannie had dished out after all. They were in a temporary truce. "I haven't found it yet," she mutters.

Quinn narrows her eyes slightly before shaking her head and turning to Charlie. Noting that Charlie's hand is on her wand and she's staring at Finn. She catches Charlie's eye and gives her a small nod of the head. Charlie owed her and it was time to cash in.

Charlie grins, " _Furnunculus_ ," she mumbles under her breath as it hits Finn and immediately causes Santana to draw her wand and point it at her. " _Shit_ ," she says as she draws her wand. "Missed," she lies.

" _Charlie!_ " Rachel snaps at her, before grabbing Finn's arm as massive boils began to appear on his face. "We need to get you to the infirmary. I take it back Santana, feel free to prank away."

Santana grins and watches as Rachel pulls Finn away before turning her attention to Charlie who seemed highly amused. "You don't miss."

"I know. Quinn called in her favor," Charlie says as she puts her wand away. "Now that hair growing spell?"

Santana looks over at where Finn had been sitting, "It's my turn next time. He smells _horrible_."

Brittany looks up from where she was studying, "Yeah he does. If you like Rachel Quinn you should just ask her out."

All eyes turn to Quinn who manages to keep her face neutral, "I'll ask Rachel out when Charlie and Santana finally admit their feelings for each other."

Charlie gagged, " _Please_. _Her_? I'd rather kiss Puck."

"I'd rather gouge out my eyeballs," Santana retorts shivering. Her and Charlie? The thought was _disturbing_.


	4. Year Four

Santana sits down at the large oak table for Gryffindor House and checks once again to make sure that Charlie hasn't seen her yet. With Frannie finally gone, Charlie's probably hasn't had enough time to practice and get a head start, like she had in previous years. This was finally going to be her _year_ to make something happen before Charlie did. Charlie was _predictable_ and she certainly wasn't the brightest tool in the shed, which meant that she would try something tonight. Their temporary truce was _over_ and she was going to be the one to start the year off with a win.

" _Aspidastra_." She whispers the spell she's been practicing since last year and expertly waves her wand to form a protective shield around herself. It took a bit of work to figure out how to make it impenetrable to spells without restricting any movement or being visible to anyone else, but she's positive that she did it correctly. More importantly, she had to make sure that the angle of refraction for the shield was the exact same angle as the direction of the spell.

It might have sounded complex, but really it was the only thing that made sense. She didn't want any spell Charlie hit her with to simply miss her and hit someone else. Nor did she want it to look like a big shield of armor had been placed around herself. No, it needed to be a complete surprise, the only way that this would really work would be for the shield to send the spell back at Charlie like a mirror would.

She'd tried _Expecto Patronum_ and after a few shaky attempts, nearly had a corporeal Patronus. Her excitement paled though, when she realized that Patronus charm would be too obvious.

She's fairly certain she knows how this is going to go. Charlie will try to hex her, but then after that fails she'll try to get her entire house. She'd tried holding multiple shields at once but had later realized it was easier to control the shape and size of her current shield. She'd just have to make sure she was fast about it.

Charlie, meanwhile was trying to choose between a couple of spells to shoot at Santana. Last year had been _mild_ at best and this time she needed something big. With Frannie gone, and Quinn and Brittany practically jumping out of the way and protecting themselves every time they thought she was practicing a hex. She hadn't had the luxury of coming up with the exact spells she wanted over the summer. Whatever, this would have to do. She glances around to make sure she isn't being watched and points her wand directly at Santana. " _Petrificus Totalus_." She proudly watches as her wand shoots the spell right at her nemesis and doesn't even have time to register the beam being reflected directly back at herself.

The next thing she realizes is that she's completely petrified, frozen and unable to move as if she's been bound. Santana smiles smugly as if she knows _exactly_ what had happened but Charlie is powerless to stop it. It hadn't meant to be a long spell, just _long_ enough to give her time to think of another humiliating spell to send Santana's way. She can't even narrow her eyes at Santana who just smirks at her and goes back to eating.

Everything was _going_ to plan and she had _won_ the opening ceremony battle which meant that she was currently in the lead. She was tempted to make Charlie barf out slugs, but that would draw far too much attention. She would need to brush up on her charms and hexes to keep Charlie off her game.

"That was pretty impressive. Nice use of the _Aspidastra_ , that's some high-level magic right there."

Santana looks up and flushes when she spots Dani Harper paying attention to her. She was in the year above her and she had been certain that Dani didn't know her name. "Yeah—um, I've been practicing."

"Santana, right? You're on the Quodpot team, right?"

Santana nods and bites her lip, she needed to play this cool. "Dani, right?"

"Yeah, way to go taking it to that Slytherin," Dani said flashing a smile at her before turning her attention to one of the Professors who had stood up and was desperately trying to get everyone's attention.

It takes a moment for Santana to realize that it's just Professor Schuester, fiddling with his robes. Santana rolls her eyes at this and goes back to eating her food. Schuester was _not_ the Dean of Ilvermorny and anything he had to say couldn't be important. She tilts her head to look over at Charlie who seemed to be free and can't help but shoot her another smirk.

"Excuse me!" Professor Schuester says trying to get everyone's attention. When the hall finally settled the herbology teacher cleared his throat before speaking. "I'd like to announce to all students that starting this year, Ilvermorny will be instituting a strict 'No Pranking' policy."

"You know he is talking about you and Charlie." Quinn mutters leaning in from the Ravenclaw table to speak to Santana.

Santana grins and shrugs. She and Charlie can't be the _only_ ones pranking each other and it wasn't her fault that Mr. Schue accidentally ate some of Charlie's charmed desserts last year. Santana was just glad _she_ wasn't the one coughing up spiders, the slugs had been bad enough. "I know he _thinks_ he's talking about me and Charlie. But they can't punish me if I don't get caught."

"What about Charlie?" Quinn whispers to Santana.

"If she's dumb enough to get caught then that's her problem." Santana shrugs.

"We encourage anyone who has been a victim of pranks to come forward and identify their bullies so that we can fairly enforce this policy."

Santana rolls her eyes. Like _that_ is going to happen. She spares a glance at Charlie who seems to be watching the announcement with the same amount of amusement she feels herself.

Well that answers that. Game, _still_ on.

"So, I'm guessing your little prank war is going to continue huh?" Dani asks looking at Santana.

"Yeah, just got to be more careful," Santana admits. "Nothing flashy or anything."

"Well, stop by my room later, I may have a few suggestions," Dani grinned.

Santana flushed again, she needed to play this _cool_. "Sure, yeah that sounds great anything to get one up on Charlie."

 **~O~**

"Where is she?"

All eyes at the library table turned to look at a very _pissed_ Charlie who currently had donkey ears coming out of her head and almost immediately everyone began to snicker. She looked absolutely _ridiculous_. And it takes a moment before they realize that Santana had probably also given Charlie the accompanying tail for shits and giggles.

Rachel takes a breath, the last thing they needed was for Charlie to start hexing indiscriminately. "Where's who?"

"Who else!" Charlie snapped.

"Are you _sure_ it was Santana? That's a pretty advanced transformigation spell, and Santana's not the best at that class. Probably fifth year stuff," Quinn mused reaching over to touch one of Charlie's ears. She snorts when Charlie smacks her hand away.

Brittany tilted her head slightly, "Would have looked better with like cat ears or bunny ears," she mused.

Puck leans in, "I think the _point_ was that Charlie's an ass, so they made her into one."

"Oh," Brittany grinned, "That's pretty funny."

"You know what's going to be _funny_? What I'm going to do to Santana when I see her, so where the hell is she?"

"Probably with her new girlfriend, Dani Harper," Rachel informed Charlie. She was going to get them kicked out of the library if she didn't calm down. "I mean it's probably Dani that did it, Quinn's right this doesn't look like anything Santana could do. I mean _you_ probably could pull the spell off, with a bit of practice—but Santana?" Rachel shook her head.

Charlie held up her hands, "What? Santana managed to convince someone to _date her_? What _spell_ did she use?"

"Be nice Charlie," Brittany reminded her. "She's got a girlfriend and it's her first one. You should just leave them alone and them have dates and sweet lady kisses. Violence only begets more violence," Brittany nods sagely.

Quinn shrugs, "Prank Santana, don't prank Santana, we need to start studying for our O.W.L.S and you should too. But if I were you I'd get that taken care of," Quinn motions to Charlie's ears.

Charlie turns a bright red and turns around and storms off, before pausing and turning around. "What's her girlfriends name?"

"Dani Harper," Quinn supplied before anyone could stop her. She personally didn't care much for Dani Harper and if Charlie had a new mission, that would mean she would leave her to study in peace.

"Quinn," Rachel said in horror. "It's Santana's first girlfriend."

"Please, Charlie would have found out eventually and trust me we don't want to get up in the craziness," Quinn responded easily. "In fact, we all might want to take cover, because whatever little prank war was, it's going to get _so_ much worse now that Santana has a girlfriend."

"Because Charlie loves Santana?" Finn questions and everyone turns to him. He frowns slightly, "I _notice_ things," he states crossing his arms over his chest.

"You forgot Rachel's birthday, so excuse me if I don't think that you _know_ anything," Quinn retorted acidly.

"Well he's not wrong, and no one said that Charlie was mature," Puck said before the conversation between Finn and Quinn could devolve into bickering over Rachel. "So, we all need to _avoid_ Charlie and Santana and hope that their lovers spat doesn't spill over and we get caught in the crossfire." Everyone nods in response.

 **~O~**

Dean Figgins looked at the two youngsters in front of him, staring at them in what he hoped was an intimidating glare. But they didn't seem particularly frightened. It was disheartening to say the least but the prank war _needed_ to end. He turned to look at Charlie Fabray, he had never once had any problems with Frannie or any of the other Fabray children but her name kept coming up. "You _unleashed_ Pixies into the Gryffindor common room."

Charlie gave Figgins her best blank stare. "Prove it."

"Excuse me?"

"I said prove it. I've _never_ used any live animals in my pranks before—"

" _Bullshit_ ," Santana snaps at Charlie. "You made me puke out slugs!"

"Yes, but I didn't catch them myself," Charlie pointed out, narrowing her eyes at Santana.

"Who else could it have been?" Santana asks Charlie, half of her things had been _ruined_ , the dress she had gotten to go on a date with Dani had ink stains all over it.

"I don't know, you've been hitting quite a few Slytherin's lately. It could be any one of them. Besides Dean Figgins, pixies are _harmless_."

"Harmless?" Santana repeats they had literally torn apart their common room, there was ink stains everywhere. "You think they're _harmless_? Didn't you pay attention in Care of Magical creatures?"

"I read the textbook Santana, no need to yell," Charlie sniffed indignantly. "I don't know why you're dragging me of all people in here for this when Santana was clearly responsible for giving half the Slytherin's scales the other day. It was very disconcerting."

Santana flushed in annoyance, that had been Dani. "That wasn't _me_."

"Of course, it wasn't. You've had it out to get me since I accidentally bumped into you on our first day here," Charlie said crossing her arms over her chest.

"You didn't apologize!"

"So, what? At most that made me rude, and I was nervous. You turned me into a glow bug.'"

"You made me puke out slugs!" Santana argues.

"Yeah, but _you_ started it," Charlie said childishly.

" _Enough_."

Both teenagers turn around and spot Sue, who looked rather frazzled. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to catch _Pixies_? It took at least three of us to get around to doing it and I'm not even sure we caught them all. Now which one of you pulled off the stupid prank?"

Santana immediately points to Charlie who shakes her head. "It wasn't me," she said truthfully. She couldn't control a horde of pixies and getting her hands on them would be a pain. There was no way that Frannie would send her that many even if she _had_ wanted to get her hands on them.

"I don't care who it was, both your houses just lost a thousand points for behavior unbecoming of _wizards_ ," Sue says calmly. "As for what your punishments are going to be? After you shake hands _publicly_ and in front of the entire school, you both will be cleaning cauldrons till you graduate, which at this point is _probably_ never going to happen if you both keep this up."

"But I didn't do _anything_!" Charlie insists, it was bullshit.

"We've also informed your parents of your behavior as of late," Figgins added. "I expect you'll both be receiving howlers shortly."

"Now get out of here, and go to your next class. You two don't even have time to be pranking anyone. You need to start thinking about your O.W.L.S." Sue reminds them. "So, figure out some sappy speech about peace and love and all that bullshit that you can sell to the rest of the student body."

Santana glances at Charlie who is about to open her big fat mouth and get them into even _more_ trouble and she grabs her by the arm. "We will," Santana promises as she yanks Charlie out of the room.

It doesn't take Charlie long to pull her arm away from Santana, "I didn't think you needed your girlfriend to fight your battles for you."

Santana froze for a moment, she hadn't known that Charlie was aware of who it was that was pranking them. "She's just defending me, from you and your stupid _pranks_."

"You prank me nearly as often as I prank you," Charlie reminds her. It was something the two of them did without even thinking about it. "She's the one that started it and now we're the ones in trouble because you can't rein her in."

"She's my _girlfriend_ , not some sort of automaton. You want her to stop pranking you Slytherin's then you need to talk to her yourself," Santana informed Charlie crossing her arms. "You need to get the other Slytherin's to stop. You ruined my dress. I spent all my allowance on it—"

"Don't care."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't care, how much you spent on a stupid dress. We're Slytherin's we're not monolithic and I'm not Frannie. I don't have control over them. You want to get them to stop you talk to the head boy," Charlie says throwing it back in her face.

" _Fine_. I will," Santana says angrily. Of course, Charlie wouldn't make it _easy_ for her, she had no idea why she thought that.

 **"** **Good luck he's a bit dim and he's a fucking** ** _asshole_** **," Charlie said before storming off.**


	5. Year Five

"I think this is a _terrible_ idea," Professor Schuester said as he watched the students slowly start to filter into the Great Hall preparing for yet another sorting ceremony. "Charlie Fabray is a _menace_ and I do think she should be expelled."

"Academic excellence is one of the requirements for becoming a prefect at Ilvermorny _,_ and say what you want, she's top in her house in every subject except for potions, which she's managed to pass _barely_ every year. It's clear it's not her strength. Besides, the extra responsibility will be _good_ for both Santana and Charlie, perhaps they'll finally put aside their petty rivalry and set a good example for the rest of her house." Professor Pillsbury said, wincing as she sensed the tension between both Gryffindor and Slytherin as the two women in question walked into the hall.

"I hate to admit that Schuester might be _right_ , however, every _single_ member of the Fabray family has been made into prefects, and Charlie has unfortunately earned her spot as a prefect. I don't think she'll care one way or another," Sue said as she watched Charlie and Santana take their respective seats. "Well, only two more years after this year and we'll be rid of them."

Figgins shook his head, "I have a good feeling for this year," He announced as he stood up. "After they received the Howlers from their parents they did seem to realize that the best course of action was just to ignore one another. Let's hope that's what happens here. Besides they _both_ have OWLs this year. They'll be more concerned about that than fighting with each other."

"Let's _hope_." Sue muttered as Figgin's began his welcoming speech to all the new wizards and witches.

 **~O~**

Charlie stared at the prefect pin she'd been given and frowned as she poked at it. She didn't want to be a prefect. Being a prefect meant that she needed to set an example or something of the sort. She didn't want to be an example, she liked fucking with people when they annoyed her. As far as she was concerned this was a disaster of _epic_ proportions. "Shit."

Brittany gasped. " _Charlie!_ You're a prefect now! You can't swear!"

"This had to be some sort mistake." Charlie groans. "I mean it makes sense that you two managed to get to be prefects, but I was nearly expelled last year remember? What is this some reverse psychology? Give me some power and hope that I don't turn into a goody-two shoes? Like the two of you? Or pray that I don't turn into some dictator? It just seems like they're give me more work to do and I've got to figure out a way to pass my O.W.L in potions."

Quinn rolled her eyes, "I don't know why you're complaining, dad's just going to throw money at you for managing to become a prefect."

"He'd throw money at you too, if you were in Slytherin but nope! At least I get my own room this year. Mercedes as a roommate was fun but she got mad at me for practicing my hexes and jinxes. Since I want to join the Magical Law Enforcement squad."

"Well then you probably shouldn't be going around pranking people, they only take the best and there's like a _stringent_ mental test that you need to pass as well," Rachel reminds her. "I hear they talk to all our professors, and if they don't think you've got what it takes, you fail."

Charlie huffed, puffing out her cheeks at this. "So, no more pranks?"

"Charlie we're turning fifteen later this year, we're not children anymore." Quinn reminded her. "Also, you need to get at least an Exceeds Expectations in potions to even be considered for the Magical enforcement squad. You _barely_ passed last year."

Charlie frowned at this, Santana hadn't been around during their cramming sessions last semester, instead choosing to hang with Dani and her stupid friends. Which meant Quinn had needed to tutor her, which meant that she was more lost in the subject than ever before. She sighed, "Fine, right. Razor focus. I'm going to be studying potions all year."

Brittany leaned in and nudged Charlie, "If you just ask Santana for help politely she'll probably help."

Charlie's about to respond when the door swings open and Santana and Dani walk in, she was told that this was common room only for prefects. Dani Harper was many things, mostly a pain in her ass, but she wasn't a prefect.

Santana met Charlie's gaze for a moment, "They've really dropped the bar into what being a prefect means huh?"

Charlie rolled her eyes, "You broke just as many rules as I did," Charlie retorted with ease, taking her attention of Dani.

"Yeah, but I wasn't trying to become a prefect," Santana points out. At least her parents would get off her back about her behavior.

Dani nudged Santana, "You deserve it, you're like top in your year in Gryffindor. I mean it's pretty clear that daddy paid Figgins off. The other two make sense at least but her? Everyone knows she's failing potion's probably because Sue can't be bought." She had certainly said it loud enough that Charlie had heard the statement, and she grins when the Fabray reaches for her wand.

"Charlie, new leaf," Brittany reminds her. "Use your words."

Charlie exhales, Brittany was right and she lets go of her wand. "Everyone knows I'm miserable at potions. I am," Charlie shrugs at this. "I'm still the best duelist at the school and if you think that my father paid off the defense of dark arts teacher then put your money where your mouth is."

Brittany groaned, that wasn't what she had meant.

Dani grinned even as Santana clutched at her arm, "You're _joking_ right? You think you're the best duelist in the school?"

Charlie pulls out her wand, "Shall we see?"

"Seriously? You two are going to do this _here_?" Quinn groans turning to Santana. "This is a bad idea and you know it."

Santana nodded, "Quinn's right, look we just became prefects Dani, I don't want any trouble," Santana said as she noticed a few of the other Slytherin prefects moving to back Charlie up. This had been the first opening ceremony since they'd started that Charlie hadn't pulled anything. She hadn't even looked over at her as she talked with the other Slytherin's.

"You don't think I can take her?" Dani asked seriously.

"Of course, I think you can take her, but I nearly got expelled last year. My parents will kill me if I get in any trouble this year. You know how they were," Santana lies. She _knew_ Dani probably couldn't take Charlie. She'd witnessed Charlie putting up a losing effort against Frannie, and she was certain that Charlie had thrown the duel to give Frannie the win before she graduated.

"We just talked about this Charlie," Rachel reminded her. "If you keep getting into these fights, you'll never get to join the magical enforcement squad if you keep this up."

"You're kidding right? _You_?" Dani scoffed. "You're barely passing potions."

Charlie licked her lips, before letting go of her wand. "And you're just hiding behind your girlfriend. But Rachel's _right_ I don't want to get into any trouble this semester, so I'll just kick your ass in sanctioned duels. The dueling club meets every Wednesday, I'll see you then."

Santana pulled Dani's arm, "Come on Dani, let's just get out of here."

Charlie tilted her head at Santana, before deciding to take one last parting shot at Dani's ego. "I suggest getting Santana to teach you a few things, or you'll just going to end up embarrassing yourself."

Dani wheeled around pulling out her wand and readying a spell to fling at Charlie angrily, not caring that Charlie had turned her back to Dani.

"Expelliarmus." Quinn said disarming Dani with a flick of her wrist. She seemed unperturbed as the rest of the Gryffindor's immediately pulled out their wands, just as every Slytherin did the same. "This common room is prefects only Dani, if you're going to start pulling shit, I'm not going to turn a blind eye to it. Understood Lopez?"

Santana gripped Dani's arm and yanked her out, before a magical battle could break out, from the looks of it the Ravenclaws would side with the Slytherin and if Brittany chose to join her sisters then Gryffindor would be outnumbered. "Come on Dani, lets just get out of here. I've got to show you my new broom for Quodpot."

Dani shot one last glare at Charlie before allowing herself to be pulled away.

Quinn frowned as she turned to her twin, "Seriously? Do you get off on looking for trouble?"

Charlie grinned at her twin, "I knew you had my back, and that you loved me."

Quinn rolled her eyes, before putting her wand away. "Dani isn't exactly some slouch."

"Yeah but Frannie and me have been dueling all summer, to get her prepared for the exam," Charlie reminded Quinn. "And Frannie hits hard and she hits fast," Charlie said. Her reaction time had increased and she'd learned a few new nasty tricks from her older sister.

Quinn groaned, "If you want to impress Santana humiliating her girlfriend isn't the way."

"Are you still on that?" Charlie questions wrinkling her nose. "This isn't about Santana, I just fucking hate Dani Harper. Don't go—what's the word—projecting your shit onto me."

Quinn flushed at the statement, as Rachel perked up at the words, "What's she talking about?"

"Nothing, I've told you she was dropped on the head repeatedly as a child," Quinn grumbled. Next time Charlie was on her own.

Charlie flashed a look at Brittany who laughed.

 **~O~**

"Come on Charlie. This game sets the tone for _every_ game going forward. We need to beat Gryffindor," Mercedes said dragging Charlie along.

Charlie groaned, she _absolutely_ hated Quodpot. It was a stupid sport without the grace or the intrigue of Quidditch. In Quidditch a team could still come back from behind and win, in quodpot there was nothing really like that. If the quod exploded in your hands then you were out. There were no slick broom movements that were practically death defying, it was just trying to get the quod from one end of the field into the opposing teams net. "Go Slytherin," Charlie mutters under her breath sliding down on the seat, in a sea of green.

Mercedes rolls her eyes and focuses on the match, Charlie was always like this every quodpot game, even when it was close to the wire like it was now. "You should join the team."

"And muck up this pretty face with a quod blowing up in my face? No thank you," Charlie puffs out her cheeks and leans back on the bench. She closes her eyes, trying to focus on thinking of a new hex, it was for extra credit and maybe it would totally make up for the fact that she'd failed Sue's pop-quiz miserably. She was getting desperate, but she wasn't quite at the point where she would go to Santana for help.

Mercedes settles into watching the event nudging Charlie every time something interesting happens, but after the third nudge and an exploded quod, Charlie has completely and utterly zoned out. "Come on show some house spirit!"

Charlie popped open an eye and scowled when she saw that Santana was flying past Slytherin defenders with ease, "I would if our team could actually stop Santana, if Frannie were here, she'd knock Santana off her broom or something," Charlie grumbled and steal the quod. She gets up to leave, this had been a mistake, she couldn't nap in the stands and Mercedes kept cheering or booing in an annoying fashion. She ignores the glares from some of her housemates as she starts to move towards the exit, only to stop when there's a loud _bang_ and then screaming. She turns to the side quickly and spots Santana falling off her broom at a rapid pace and immediately pulls out her wand to stop her from going splat against the ground. Her mind goes blank as she tries to remember the spell that would slow down Santana's momentum.

" _Arresto momentum!_ "

Charlie blinks it was definitely Sue's voice and she blinks. Right. That was the charm, she had learned in second year. Maybe she did need to practice her second-year spells. She's about to put her wand away and continue on her way when she's suddenly realizes that everyone is staring at her. She blinks. " _What_?"

It happens so quickly that it takes her a moment to realize that three professors have their wands pointed at her and she realizes that she is the one in trouble. She blinks and looks at Santana who is being led off the field and it slowly dawns on her that people think that she may have something to do with Santana falling. Like it was her fault that Santana had fallen off her damn broom. Charlie glances at her wand for a moment, and then sighs there was going to be a very loud howler with her name on it in the morning.

"Minus a thousand points for Slytherin," William Schuester announces loudly as he grabs her by the arm. "I _knew it_. I knew making you a prefect wouldn't change a damn thing."

Charlie blinks slowly as she's hauled off to Figgin's office in front of half the school. Yeah, she was definitely getting a howler in the morning.

 **~O~**

Being a social pariah _sucked_. She wasn't sure which was worse, that people thought that she had done something to screw with the quod, or that she was dumb enough to be caught standing there with her wand out. A quick Prior Incantato, had proved her innocence, but she had drawn the line at being legilimenced. Which was why nearly everyone in the school, including her sisters thought she had done it. Her pranks were at the very worst _gross_ , and at best fucking hilarious. She'd never put anyone in any real danger, and she certainly couldn't be bothered to fuck with an ongoing quodpot game. There were simply to many variables, and she could have accidentally killed Santana. And then she was certain that she would have failed potions.

And what made the whole thing practically unbearable was that Santana was currently in the infirmary, getting well-wishes from everyone, and lapping it all up, while she was on probation. If she was the paranoid type, she'd think that Santana set herself up and this was the ultimate prank. It was more than likely Santana had choked and she was getting blamed for a freak accident.

" _Expelliarmus."_

Charlie blinked her mind focusing on what she had been doing as she manages to dodge the disarming spell. She flicks her wand wordlessly sending Kitty flying backwards, Kitty wasn't _Frannie_ , but for a second year she didn't seem to care that she was currently public enemy number one. Well at least in most of the school's eyes. Most of Slytherin thought she was some sort of clever legend.

"How did you do that?"

Charlie blinks and shrugs, "My sister taught me how to do it. Most wizard duels aren't as clean as this, they're dirty, you have to learn how to throw a punch and all that. There's a huge fitness component to it," Charlie crinkles her nose, and a flying component to it. Another area she was weak in. At this rate she'd never get to join the magical enforcement squad, she may become a hit-wizard, but that wasn't good enough for her.

"Who told you that bullshsit?"

Charlie turned slowly, and glanced at the Gryffindor's that had just entered the room and flicks her eyes towards Dani. She forces a smile onto her face, "Have you come to join dueling club?"

"Cut the crap Fabray, you know why we're here." Dani said taking a step forward.

"Figgins, Sylvester and Schuester cleared me, they gave Slytherin back it's points. I didn't hurt Santana. I mean I might make her puke out slugs when she pisses me off, but I do need her, she's the only thing saving me from completely failing Potions. All I need is an Exceeds expectations, which given my history anything better than a failing grade according to Professor Sylvester exceeds her expectations."

"Bullshit, I know you did some trickery, Santana's in the infirmary because of you."

"Santana's accident wasn't my doing, again, I need Santana to help me pass potions. Sue isn't even letting me touch a cauldron until she gets back," Charlie says with ease it was about the only class that they weren't at each other's throats.

Dani pulls out her wand, "That's probably what you want us to think, you probably manipulated the situation so you could drag her down with you."

Charlie frowned, how clever did people think she was? I mean it was almost flattering in a sense, but she _knew_ she wasn't that smart. "So, you brought all these Gryffindor's to what? Beat me up? How _cowardly_ of you."

"No, they're just here to make sure you don't pull anything, sneaky. I mean your house animal is a _snake_."

"Original," Charlie said dryly, pulling out her wand. They really did need adult supervision but if Dani wanted to be humiliated in front of what appeared to be half of Gryffindor. "Look, this is your last chance to save your face."

"It's save face," Kitty murmurs holding out her wand.

"Is it? That's a stupid expression," Charlie says reaching over and gently pushing Kitty's wand down. "They're sixth years, let me handle this. She may not be the criminal mastermind that people thought she was but she was but she was quick on her feet. "Alright Dani, I accept your poorly thought out challenge. I mean if you—"

" _Stupefy_!"

Charlie flicks her wand in response, that was rude Dani hadn't even let her finish insulting her. " _Protego_!" She needed to remember everything that Frannie had taught her. Everything that she'd learned from her defense of the dark arts. There were plenty of spells that were not unforgivable that were plenty painful, and that she had always wanted to try out, but if she hurt Dani, Santana probably would leave her to fail potions. The decisions that she had to make. She takes a step forward, disarming Dani would be the most efficient way to end this, but no one said she couldn't have a bit of fun. " _Silenco!"_ Charlie said with a flick of her wrist watching as the yellow light hit Dani square in the chest. She grins pleased with herself when Dani tries to shout a spell in return but can't, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Charlie flicks her wrist almost lazily. Frannie was right it was like a chess game. "Expelliarmus!"

Dani's wand flies out of her hand, bouncing twice before rolling underneath a desk that had been moved out of the way. The room goes eerily quiet for a moment, and Dani turns to glare at Charlie.

"So—" Charlie says breaking the silence twirling her wand in her fingers a smirk on her face. Maybe she could use the entire sixth year Gryffindor class as a way to get her frustrations out. "Next?" She called out flicking her wand in the air ready to go toe to toe against all of them. She was going to be a _legend_. An absolute legend. When another Gryffindor steps forward she smiles, she didn't have to be kind to this one. Maybe she'd make the entire Gryffindor sixth year class puke slugs out for weeks, she'd been modifying the spell so that—

An explosion of stars, and the sudden sensation that she's falling break Charlie's concentration as she finds herself on the ground, Dani on top of her and she realizes what Frannie meant when she had said that a real wizard duel wasn't clean. She tries to focus her wand on Dani only to get disarmed by a sixth year. This was going to _hurt_.

 **~O~**

Santana Lopez glanced over at her rival who was currently bedridden, she'd been brought in a wreck and she had watched in fascination as the nurse had cast a Vulnera Sanetur spell, to stop the bleeding. It had been followed by a mild paralysis spell before a Ferula spell on Charlie's arm.

"I just want my _wand_!" Charlie insisted loudly. "I need it before those _savages_ break it!" She felt naked without her wand, and defenseless. They had cheated—it didn't matter if she should have been paying closer attention to Dani. The next time she saw her, she was going to make sure slugs and spiders crawled out of everyone of Dani's orifices.

"We'll _find it_ ," Penny says patting Charlie's good arm. "The professors are on a rampage right now, this rivalry between your two houses has gotten a bit out of hand. Now you need to rest."

"I'll rest when my wand is beside me," Charlie insists, she made a move to get up only to freeze when Penny pointed her own wand at her. "I'm wandless you wouldn't—"

"I _would_."

"Will you just lay down and shut up," Santana bitches resisting the urge to throw her pillow at Charlie's head. She probably wouldn't get the pillow back. Charlie was that petty.

Charlie turns to glare at Santana and waits for a moment before laying down. She's about to roll over so her back was to Santana but she would probably jostle her arm. She waits until Penny's gone before turning to look at Santana who was staring at her. "This is your fault."

"My fault? I've been in here for about a week! You falling down a flight of stairs is not my fault."

"You think I did this to myself? Your _psychotic_ girlfriend and all of her cowardly sixth year classmates did this to me because everyone thinks I put you here."

"Why would Dani come after you?" Santana blinks, that didn't make any sense. "Sue said that the potion hadn't been mixed properly, she personally came in here to apologize and to tell me that she went after the seventh year that's in charge of mixing the quod potion. The potion wasn't doing its job properly so when it exploded, it was like ten quods going off at the same time."

Charlie stares at Santana, she hadn't even heard that news but it was proof that she wasn't responsible. "Because your girlfriend is a _fucking psychopath_! I told her I didn't have anything to do with it. She was looking for an excuse to come after me."

Santana frowned, she couldn't remember what happened from the accident. Dani had told her everything, she didn't think that Charlie was _that_ clever. "You were caught with your wand out," when Charlie looks away. "What exactly did you do? Dani probably thought you had something to do with it. So, what did you do?" When Charlie doesn't answer her right away she scowls and presses harder. " _Charlie,_ what did you do."

"Nothing. I didn't _do_ anything. I panicked, you were falling and I forgot the spell," Charlie muttered. "I didn't do anything Sue saved you, but people saw me pointing at you with my wand, and the assumed that I was trying to kill you. I was cleared, they looked at my wand, I didn't do anything."

Santana tilts her head as much as she could; watching as Charlie's cheeks turn crimson red. "You were trying to save me?" Charlie mutters something under her breath, and she realizes that the Slytherin is mortified by this admission. "Dani said you were trying to kill me."

"Please, if I was actually trying to kill you. You wouldn't have died by going splat on the ground, also my wand wouldn't have been out."

"True, you're not an idiot, also this seems like an overly complicated way to have me murdered. You're certainly not that clever."

"I know—wait a minute, I am so that clever."

"A clever person doesn't try to take on an army of Gryffindors—I can't believe that Dani did this to you. I really wanted to start this year off without getting into a stupid prank fight," Santana groaned. This was far more than turning Charlie into an ass. Dani was probably going to be expelled. She didn't want that. "Charlie, what's it going to take for you not to rat out Dani?"

"She deserves to be expelled. I beat her fair and square and I didn't even make her puke slugs. I disarmed her, she attacked me physically, the whole year needs to be expelled," Charlie insists before pausing there was something that she needed from Santana and now that Santana was trying to get her to look the other way this was the perfect opportunity to trap her.

"Look, this little rivalry got out of hand. I'll make sure Dani doesn't bother you again. I mean it, just come on look the other way?"

"You to make sure that I get an Exceeds Expectations in potions on my O.W.L.s" Charlie said after a moment. "If you do that I won't tell my father and he won't freak out about how his favorite kid got attacked by a pack of savage students."

Santana blinks slowly, it took everything she had to make sure that Charlie never failed her potions class, because if Charlie failed then she failed. She was hoping to get Charlie to Acceptable. "I meant something doable."

"Right, I hope you enjoyed your time with your girlfriend—"

"Fine. Fine. We'll have to study every night for the rest of the year, and every weekend we'll have to run over every potion at least ten times." Santana groans, she wouldn't have any time to spend with Dani. "But you can't tell your father."

"Deal." Charlie says with a pleased smirk. Her father would have probably sent her a howler anyway for getting her ass kicked. It was better if he didn't know.


	6. Year Six

Santana glanced over at Dani, feeling the familiar sadness creep back in. She didn't want to admit that she _missed_ her ex-girlfriend but this was for the best. Dani hadn't been able to handle how much effort she had needed to put in to keep her from getting expelled and had accused her of sleeping with Charlie of all _people_ behind her back. Charlie was an _idiot,_ she found the idea to be _completely_ and utterly offensive.

Though Dani's insistence that this was just a ploy by Charlie to break them apart seemed to have rung true, though she personally doubted Charlie had thought about it. She had seemed focused on her O.W.L.S. last year and had spent most of it studying for the exam, she hadn't _heard_ how Charlie had done in Potions, but as far as she was concerned she had held up her end of the bargain.

She rested her hand on her wand, if Charlie had _failed_ there would probably be an attempt to prank her, and she simply wasn't in the mood to play. Dani had dumped her before the year began, in a letter. She hadn't even had the guts to do it in person, something about starting her last year the _right_ way. She looked over to Dani once more before turning her attention to the Slytherin's to make sure that Charlie wasn't plotting something dastardly. She wasn't in the mood to puke slugs or anything of the sort.

"Looking for me Lopez?" Charlie said from behind her causing Santana to whip around and point her wand at her. She flashes a smirk at Santana and extends the bag she's carrying towards her. "I got an Exceeds Expectations," Charlie informed her. "And normally I would say it's all because of the _hard_ work I put in but we _both_ know that I wouldn't have gotten it because of you, and I no longer need to take it, but I got you this as a thank you. Don't worry it's not spelled or hexed or jinxed and I certainly didn't attempt to make any potions. I mean I didn't know what you like so I just got you a bunch of things, take what you want. It's just a thank you, for you know helping me get."

Santana stared at the bag in Charlie's outstretched hand, debating whether she should take it. It was a _weird_ gesture and she certainly didn't trust Charlie not to pull a prank on her but she was certain that Dani was watching and was absolutely _incensed_ which meant she sort of had to take it. She grips the bag half expecting pixies to start tumbling out but Charlie just flashes her an honest grin, which looks positively strange on her face and heads back to the Slytherin table.

Santana waits for an appropriate length of time before pushing open the bag with her wand to take a better look at the contents, she could still feel Dani's eyes on her but she ignored them. She was curious about what Charlie _thought_ she liked. She grins at the large bottle of Butterbeer, which was still sealed and the sheer amount of _chocolates_ that Charlie had given her. From chocolate covered dragon roasted nuts, to chocolate liqueur, Charlie had definitely gone all out on giving her chocolate including a bag of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans, but instead of the multi-colored jelly beans that she had seen before they were all dark browns, it was the chocolate edition. A smile crosses her face and she glances over at Charlie, for someone who had claimed to know what she didn't like she _sure_ had managed to hit a lot of them.

"You know she probably _hexed_ them, right?"

Santana froze and looked over at Dani who had a frown on her face, "It's a thank you present, I mean it's possible but I did help her pass Potions with Exceeds expectations. I don't think Charlie's that _much_ of a dick."

"She made you puke slugs out," Dani frowned.

Santana immediately closed the bag, her cheeks flushing in annoyance and embarrassment. Dani didn't _get_ to make her feel this way anymore, and Dani had never exactly given her a gift basket like this before, it almost made her feel better about the whole breakup. "Last time I checked, you broke up with me. Something about wanting to start your last year here on the right foot. So, if I get a gift from someone, who wants to say thank you for dragging them to an Exceeds expectations in potions then I'm going to assume that the gift is in good faith." Santana snapped, she gets up and moves down the table some so she didn't have to deal with Dani. She glances back up at Charlie who is staring at her, and she glares. It was none of Charlie's business that she had broken up with Dani. Though when Charlie reaches for her wand and nods in the direction of Dani she can't help but smile.

It's a kind gesture and she knew Charlie was itching to go after Dani, but she really wanted no part in their stupid little war. She shrugs her shoulders and she watches as Charlie mumbles something and flicks her wand at Dani. She watches in horror and amusement as soup that had been zipping around the great hall suddenly tips and pours all over Dani, splattering her and her friends.

Dani blinks feeling the thick seafood chowder drip down her face and soak through her clothing and she looks up to spot the culprit sitting there with a massive grin on her face. "You _little fuckwad!_ " Dani bitches loudly grabbing her wand and standing up.

Almost immediately every Slytherin was standing up and pointing their wands at her, as Charlie sits comfortably an amused grin on her face. "You know I'm certain it's a medical condition that you smell like fish, you really _should_ get that checked out Dani. You know for your own safety," the comment elicits chuckles and laughter from a few of the other Slytherins.

" _Charlotte Fabray_! Minus Two-Hundred points for Slytherin!" William bellowed from the professor's table.

Charlie shrugged her shoulders; two hundred points was _nothing_. "She attacked me last year, honestly a bit of soup is _nothing_."

Sue _sighed_ , last year had been a _good_ year. Both Santana and Charlie had gotten along relatively well all things considered, and at least now she wouldn't have to _deal_ with Charlie again in her classroom. "Very well if you both want to handle this like adults then you will simply have a _proper_ duel. And that will be the end of your stupid fight over Santana Lopez."

Charlie blinked and looked at Santana, feeling the tips of her ears turn a bright red. "This isn't a fight over Santana," she manages to sputter. "She snapped my wand and put me in the infirmary, this is about my honor, or _whatever_."

Santana rolled her eyes, "Whatever, I have nothing to do with these two idiots," she muttered looking away hoping that her cheeks didn't give her away.

 **~O~**

"It must be so exciting having two people fight over you," Rachel gushed as she walked along with Santana.

Santana flicked her eyes over at Quinn for a moment and then looked at Finn Hudson and bit her lip. "Dani and Charlie aren't fighting over me, they're fighting because they _hate_ each other. Sure, Dani may think that I'm carrying on some torrid affair with Charlie, but that's not _accurate_. Charlie actually has a decent reason to hate Dani that has nothing to do with me. This is about avenging herself. You heard her."

"You don't _really_ believe her, do you?" Quinn asked, slightly horrified, she had seen how red Charlie had gotten. And Santana may have missed it but she had been damn _pleased_ Charlie had looked to hear that she and Dani no more. "She tagged along and harassed Rachel when we went shopping together this summer to figure out what you liked for that stupid gift basket of yours. For fucks sake Charlie _likes_ you, she's just too much of a chickenshit to say anything about it. You're the Gryffindor, ask her out already."

"Pot. Meet Kettle." Santana muttered under her breath. "She made me puke slugs."

"And she still wants to kiss you," Brittany said cheerfully. "That's like true love right there."

Santana rolled her eyes, she wasn't going to entertain the idea. Her and Charlie. Charlie was a jackass that only cared about herself and worse she was a Slytherin, a mortal enemy. Sure, she had sort of grown and matured in all the right places, but that didn't change the fact that Charlie had the emotional maturity of a five-year-old. "Charlie and I will probably end up murdering each other if we dated."

"Or having _really_ hot sex," Brittany corrected.

Quinn looked like she had licked a lemon, "What do you _know_ about sex?"

"Mom gave me and Charlie the talk, and we had that class."

" _Mom_ gave you the talk? And who the hell is Charlie having sex with? Who are you?"

Santana paused realizing she had been leaning in and wondering the same thing, Charlie as far as she knew had never had a girlfriend. She was beginning to wonder why she even cared who Charlie slept with. It was Charlie she was probably terrible at it.

"No one Quinn, mom just thought we'd probably end up doing it before you did." Brittany rolled her eyes.

"You're younger than me and Charlie's well—it's Charlie." Quinn sputtered.

"Well maybe if you said something to the person you liked your mom might have sat you down for the talk," Brittany huffed.

"Wait you _like_ someone?" Rachel insists turning on Quinn.

Quinn glared at her younger sister who flashed her an amused grin. "Rachel. No."

"Quinn, as your best friend. It's my duty to help you with your love life."

"I thought I was your best friend," Santana said flatly. Personally, she didn't actually care, but she was amused that Rachel who was secretly in love with Quinn was trying to help her hook up with someone else. She personally wasn't that nice.

"No, I'm your best friend," Brittany reminded her linking arms. "You have to figure out a way to ask Charlie out."

"I don't want to ask Charlie out—"

"You shouldn't lie to your best friend. It's not very nice." Brittany insists.

 **~O~**

Charlie spun her new wand around her fingertips, it wasn't anything like her old one. Even though it had been a year it still didn't feel quite right. It was according to the wandmaker just as powerful as her old one, but she didn't feel like it. Dani had made her feel _helpless_ and it was something she didn't _enjoy_ feeling.

"So, what's the game plan?"

Charlie turns and blinks when she spots Santana, she narrows her eyes slightly before huffing. "Taking out your ex-girlfriend. I haven't thought about what I'm going to do, I just do what I feel like when I duel."

"That's basically how it works in Quodpot," Santana says, taking a seat in a chair and watching Charlie pace back and forth through the Prefects common room. It was odd being here alone with Charlie without thinking of something that would humiliate her, it was comfortable and easy. "I know you've got this, Dani isn't that great of a duelist."

"I don't know what you saw in her," Charlie muttered. "You were at least _clever_ in your pranks, she was just mean."

"You made me puke slugs," Santana reminded her.

"And then I got clever," Charlie insisted.

"You're really not that clever," Santana reminds her, and she grins when Charlie sticks out her tongue and goes back to pacing. She gets up after a moment, ready to wish Charlie good luck and go and find her seat before the duel, but at this point there really was no better than time then the present to figure out if she was serious about Charlie or not. She marches up to the Slytherin who looks surprised and she grabs her by the tie and pulls her in for a kiss, their lips crash against each other hard enough to bruise them and at first, she feels Charlie struggle and she thinks that she's completely misjudged whatever was between them before Charlie kisses back eagerly.

It only lasts for a moment, a _long_ moment before she pulls back and looks at Charlie who looks at her in shock. She gently pats Charlie's cheek. "Good luck." There were definitely sparks in that kiss it felt so much different than making out with Dani. Without allowing Charlie to completely adjust to their new reality she turns around and quickly walks away.

Charlie dropped her wand as she watched Santana go, her cheeks a flaming red. She didn't know what had brought that on. Did Santana like her? You didn't just kiss people you didn't like right?

 **~O~**

Her mind simply wasn't in this stupid match, she was confused about what had literally happened ten minutes earlier, what had it _meant_. Did it mean that Santana liked her? Did it mean that they were dating, they hadn't even _been on_ a date—was this all some elaborate prank to get in her head. She twists her body out of the way of the beam of light that Dani had just shot at her and she uses that brief second to look at Santana.

If this was a _prank_ it was to take her head out of the game, then it was _working_. She hisses when a cut appears on her cheek and she realizes that she had spent a second to long staring at Santana. This whole _fight_ was ridiculous, she didn't really give a flying rat's ass about Dani Harper. But now was the time to make sure that the professor's and everyone _knew_ she was an undisputed champion when it came to duelling. And then she'd find Santana and kiss her back. That would show her.

Charlie rotates her body once more and makes a sweeping motion with her arm, smirking when Dani _immediately_ went for the shield charm. It was predictable, she hadn't exactly lit the place on fire, but she _did_ know that all she needed to do was _embarrass_ the shit out of Dani. " _Levicorpus_." The force slams into Dani's shield knocking, it doesn't do quite what it's supposed to instead shoving Dani back a few steps and Charlie smirks, flicking her eyes at Santana for a moment. She should _remember_ this classic from a list of their greatest hits. " _Melofors_." Charlie said the moment Dani's shields dropped it was enough to hit her straight on encasing her head in a pumpkin. Charlie flicks her wand playfully, and looks at Santana once more, most people _knew_ what was coming next. It had become a signature spell. But when Santana shakes her head once, she changes her mind. It _wouldn't_ impress Santana to be _cruel_ to Dani, though it would bring her _great_ amusement to drown Dani Harper in slugs. " _Expelliarmus_." Charlie said disarming her. She immediately moves to retrieve Dani's wand, like Frannie had taught her and she keeps her wand pointed at Dani's chest. "I've basically won but if you try and jump me like you did last time, I swear you will be puking and shitting slugs for the rest of the year."

Dani tapped on the pumpkins head and the crowd of students erupted into cheers and quickly swarmed Charlie who tossed Dani's wand to her second. She looks up in time just to see Santana get up and begin to leave the room, without looking at her and she feels silly. Maybe this was just a prank. She tries to swat Kitty off her body and go after Santana but she's practically hug tackled by Brittany. " _Fuck_ , let me go!" She needed to see Santana but of course _no one_ listened to her.

 **~O~**

Santana adjusts her broom on her shoulder as she tosses the broom wax up and down in her hand, she _always_ waxed her broom before a big match, and tensions with Slytherin had _never_ been higher. Dani was basically calling for blood after Charlie had beaten her rather _gracefully_ for a Slytherin, but her power over the Seventh Years had diminished immensely. Charlie had beaten her fair and square and _hadn't_ made her burp out slugs. Dani needed to learn to take the win.

She finds her spot in the stand overlooking the pitch and places her broomstick down so she could begin to wax it, pulling out a rag from her pocket. She _liked_ her broom looking like new, and spending time in the quiet allowed her to review the game plan for tomorrow's game. She needed to keep herself loose and—

"Found you!"

Santana groaned and flicks her eyes over to Charlie who looked like she was out of breath. "Did you run away from your fan club? You look like _shit_."

"I look like shit—" Charlie exhaled slowly. She wasn't going to let Santana distract her. "Why did you kiss me?"

Santana nearly dropped her broom wax and looked at Charlie who looked like this was the last conversation she wanted to be having. "Because I wanted to," Santana says finally. "Why you're not still thinking about that are you? It's been a week Charlie—"

"Of course, I'm still thinking about it!" Charlie interrupts. Before her cheeks flame up again, she had no idea why she was shouting or why she was even nervous. It was just Santana.

Santana blinks, "Brittany put this weird idea in my head that we were meant to be together, and I was feeling weird about Dani's breakup, and you were right there. So, I kissed you, and yeah it was a _nice_ kiss, but you do realize that we can't actually _date_ right? You're in _Slytherin_ , I'm in Gryffindor. We are _literally_ playing Quodpot _tomorrow_ , it's the first game of the season and I _would prefer_ if I didn't get benched for the season this year because no one would trust me anymore. Or they'd think you brainwashed me."

"I don't know the potion for that, and even if I did, does anyone really expect me to mix it properly?" Charlie asked in a serious tone.

Santana snorted at the self-deprecating humor. "No. I guess not. I gave it some thought and—we _seriously_ would be considered traitors, but I can't deal with that. People expect us to be pranking each other all the time and honestly, I'm a bit tired of it all. I am, you prank me, I prank you, it escalates until I'm the one puking up slugs. Do you have any idea how _disgusting_ it is? You called me _slug_ breath for nearly two years!" Charlie made a face, and pulled out her wand, the action had her dropping her broom wax and reaching for her wand, she hadn't thought Charlie would be this _childish_ that she couldn't take a simple rejection—

Charlie brought the wand under her chin and closed her eyes, " _Slugulus Eructo_." The sickly green beam hits her square in in the chin, and she feels her stomach gurgle. This had been a _stupid_ plan to impress Santana. She can quickly feel the bile rising in her mouth as she bends over and hurls out slugs. A _really_ stupid idea.

Santana stares at Charlie in shock letting her wand fall back into her pocket as she watches in fascination and horror as Charlie continues to cough and sputter out thick slugs, which fall on the bench. That was the _last_ thing she'd expected Charlie to do, and she wasn't sure if it was sweet or stupid. She settles on stupid pretty quickly, and after Charlie coughs out more slugs she can't help but snort. "Did you really think that burping out slugs would make me want to _kiss you_? Or go out with you?" Charlie flashed her a thumbs up before spitting out more slugs. Brittany was right, anyone who would kiss her after witnessing this had to be her one true love. Dani had never actually seen it like Charlie had and it looked just as disgusting as it felt. She reaches for Charlie's shoulder and rubs it gently.

"So, will you—" Charlie buckled again and burped and coughed out more slugs. Worst. Idea. Ever.

Santana bit her lip, "One date."

"Really?" Charlie crinkled her nose and then immediately spat out some more slugs. "What's wrong with you?"

Santana rolled her eyes, she didn't actually know what was wrong with her. Charlie was standing there with slugs spewing from her mouth. "I have no idea, but it's _just_ one date Charlie. And no one can know about this." Another slug falls from Charlie's mouth and she looks away. "Okay, seriously _go_ get cleaned up. And this date, don't expect me to be kissing you or anything _slug_ _breath_."

Charlie flipped Santana off, she was going to head to the infirmary and see if they had any of those acid pops laying around. She was going to burn the slugs out of her damn mouth and then drink whatever cleansing potion that they had laying around.


	7. Year Seven

"I'm pretty sure that Figgins has it out for me," Charlie grumbled as she fiddled with her Head Girl pin, she hadn't wanted to be a prefect, and she certainly didn't want to be Head Girl. She had planned to spend the year sneaking around with Santana, who deserved the position, and playing some very wickedly sexual role-playing games. She personally didn't give a shit about the house competition, she felt to old for childish things.

Santana bit her lip as she gets up off her seat, and moved to help Charlie fix her uniform, stretching before she gently takes the pin in her hand and fastens it onto Charlie's vest. She didn't exactly _know_ or understand how they had gotten to this point, sneaking out of an empty cart on the train to Ilvermorny. One date had turned into two, and then three and then she'd been sneaking into Slytherin's dungeons to have sex with Charlie on more than one occasion. Something that would be impossible in Gryffindor Towers, with Dani and her friends in charge. But now that Dani was gone she could finally have Charlie over in _her_ room, with an awesome view as well. The Gryffindor Head Boy and Girl had the best rooms in the entire with rather amazing views.

"We both know that he only does it because he thinks it will make you responsible. You really only have yourself to blame for this, you shouldn't have stopped pranking people once we started dating. Now he has this _crazy_ idea that you've matured, throw in your popularity in your house and you make the _perfect_ Head Girl." Santana paused there had been a wistful note in her voice as she had talked about the prank war. She wasn't sure she wanted to admit it but she _missed_ the prank war, and while she still occasionally pranked Charlie on occasion, she was certain that it hadn't been as creative as it had before. They were _mostly_ sex spells and charms that they wanted to try on each other.

"Santana, it's best to go out on top. Let the school remember that I'm the best pranker Ilvermorny has ever seen and ever will see."

"I honestly think you mean _second_ best," Santana retorts. "I mean you did give me a good run for my money."

"I made you _puke_ slugs," Charlie reminded her, wincing at the memory. She had stopped using the spell after she had experienced how _awful_ it felt, but it had been her crowning achievement.

Santana crossed her arms, the memory still felt fresh in her mind and she _knew_ that Charlie had a particularly terrible version of the spell at the ready in case she was ever challenged to another duel. "You _reminding_ me that of that fact, doesn't help your chances of me sneaking you into Gryffindor tower tonight," She's rewarded for the statement with an amused grin from Charlie and she can't help but roll her eyes. "Look, I've been thinking about our prank wars. It was some of the best times we've _had_ here at Ilvermorny. Remember that time we got into deep shit with Frannie?"

Charlie runs a hand through her hair, "Yeah but we're Head Girls now we can't be seen going around engaging in pranks Santana," Charlie frowned. "Well, I mean _you_ can't. I doubt anyone at school has _high_ hopes for me. Though I mean I have thought of this _new_ jinx that would totally—" Santana narrowed her eyes causing Charlie to clear her throat. "No one said I was completely reformed, I just have better things to do. Like that thing—"

"Yes, I know what you're talking about," Santana interrupted, rolling her eyes once more.

"All I'm saying is that you're my _girlfriend_ Santana, and I think it's _terrible_ form to prank your girlfriend," Charlie points out. She still wanted to have sex with Santana and most of her pranks would probably stop that from happening.

"I know you think that you won our little prank war in the past Charlie, but you didn't. I won. I was just a better prankster than you were. Sure, you may be better at certain things than I am, but we both know that I'm certainly cleverer than you are."

Charlie frowned at this, well she was certain that Santana was far cleverer than she was, she wasn't about to admit it. Certainly not to Santana, she'd never hear the end of it. "If you're challenging me to a prank war to end all prank wars and determine which one of us is _truly_ the clever one, all I have to say is _no_."

"No?" Santana frowned, she thought Charlie would be into it. Any form of competition between them, turned into very passionate love-making where they both tried to outdo the other. This was just another competition.

"No," Charlie repeats again, crossing her arms over her chest. She could already see how this was going to come back and bite her in the ass. "Once I start winning, which I will, you'll get pissed with me and when you're annoyed with me, you'll start getting back at me through our relationship. Doing that will make me hold back and it wouldn't be a fair competition."

"Who said anything about pranking each other?" Santana crosses her arms, as fun as seeing Charlie's outrage was, she did actually want to keep Charlie around and coming back. Sneaking around made their relationship feel taboo, which only made it hotter for the two of them. But there was a part of her that wanted to go public, especially now that Charlie was head girl. Charlie may not realize it but there were plenty of Slytherin's who adored her, she would need to stake her claim in Charlie publicly but before then they could still have a bit of fun.

"I'm listening," Charlie said a grin slowly appearing on her face.

"Well, I was thinking that instead of pranking each other, we prank our _houses_. I mean you'll obviously be the number one suspect if everyone in Gryffindor starts barfing up slugs, but I'll be the one that would do it. You'll prank Slytherin and I'll probably be on the hook for it, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff will judge who won. If they say it was you that means I won, and if they say it was me, then you won. That way I don't get ticked off at you for making me puke out slugs."

"That's actually pretty brilliant but this can't be a daily thing, they'll totally get us with a Prior Incantato and we'll both be expelled. So how about we do this every two weeks." Charlie said smirking, "Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff will judge, our friends can't know that we're doing the switcheroo though."

Santana nods in agreement, "Perfect." It was dastardly and a bit underhanded and she would probably feel guilty for hitting her housemates with the spell that she had planned but it would be _so_ worth it for Charlie to admit that she was far cleverer.

 **~O~**

Finn Hudson approached the library and took an empty seat next to Rachel, he wasn't as _stupid_ as everyone thought he was, even if he didn't get the grades that nearly everyone in his group of friends got. He _knew_ things. He knew that Rachel was in love with Quinn, which was why he had broken up with her this summer, he did miss her but he wanted her to be _happy_ , and she wouldn't be happy with him. Which was why he _ignored_ Quinn shooting him an irritated look. "I asked Marley out to the Yule Ball, she said yes," he said puffing out his chest pleased with himself. "Oh. And I think Charlie and Santana are _together_."

Quinn blinked in surprise at the news, and slid down in her seat a bit, feeling slightly embarrassed. She had thought that he was trying to get back with Rachel, half the time it was like they had never broken up, he was always hanging around. Rachel insisted that they were just friends and with this news she was inclined to believe that this wasn't one of Finn's ploys to get Rachel back, he really wasn't that smart. "Here let me help with your charms homework," Quinn mumbled opening the book to the homework that was assigned.

Rachel reaches over and pats Finn's hand gently, he was such a sweet simple boy, and there was a part of that did love him, but she needed someone who challenged her and that wasn't Finn. The breakup had been mutual and she's happy that Quinn had stopped seeing Finn as the enemy, "They haven't exactly been discreet about the whole thing."

Brittany nods looking up from her own homework, she was surprised it had taken them this long to talk about it. "They've been dating since halfway through sixth year. Whenever Santana disappears, Charlie disappears a few moments later." She was actually disappointed that Santana hadn't told her anything about it yet, and she was personally getting tired of pretending that they didn't know. She was certain that she wasn't the _only_ one that saw it. "I hope that they stop pretending and go to the Yule Ball together, they'd look so cute together."

Finn nodded that made sense, "Are you and Quinn going together?" He asks Rachel.

Rachel turns to Quinn who had turned a bright red at Finn's questioning, "Quinn hasn't asked me yet," She admits a sly smile on her face. "But between me and you Finn, I'm _sure_ she'll get around to it."

"I hate you both," Quinn mutters under her breath.

Finn laughs at this and then scratches his head when Quinn pushes the textbook at him, "What I don't get about Charlie and Santana is the pranks. What's with the pranks this year?"

Rachel grimaced, "They are starting to get out of hand don't you think? I mean I thought it was _pretty_ funny when Santana changed all Slytherin Green into Gryffindor Red and Gold, while Figgins announced Charlie as head girl. I mean I also thought it was equally funny when Charlie retaliated and turned all of the Gryffindor's hair green, but all that did was start off another prank war between the houses. I don't even know how they have time for all these pranks. They need to be studying for their _N.E.W.T.S._ "

"Who cares, it's not like they're going after any of the other houses, just Gryffindor and Slytherin are getting hit," Quinn rolled her eyes. How Santana had managed to pull of a high-level Transfiguration spell that she had turned half the Slytherin's into canaries was beyond her. While Santana was a whizz at Potions, she knew Charlie had needed to help her do well in Transfiguration.

"They're going to get _expelled_!" Rachel insists. "I don't know how they're even getting away with it!"

Brittany rolled her eyes she wasn't sure how the professors hadn't noticed it. She had figured it relatively quickly. "Charlie's hitting other Slytherin's and Santana's hitting other Gryffindors. That's how they've managed to dodge any trouble from Figgins."

"Don't be silly Brittany. Why would they be pranking themselves?" Quinn rolled her eyes, she glances up when she spots Santana and Charlie entering the library together. Charlie's uniform looked completely dishevelled and she is glaring at Santana who had a very pleased look on her face. "Careful you two, people are going to assume that you're dating."

"Dating?" Santana presses flicking her eyes between Rachel and Quinn. "I don't know why you're projecting your relationship onto the two of us. We _hate_ each other, right Charlie?"

"Rather kiss Finn," Charlie agrees, making a face.

Finn frowns, "Hey!" When Charlie flashes him an amused smile he huffs at this. "I'd rather kiss a dung beetle," he replies.

Quinn snorted at Finn's response, "Finn already knows that we're dating, and he asked _Marley_ to the Yule Ball," She said pointedly. "Rachel and I are going together and Brittany and Mike are going together, so since you two " _aren't_ _dating_ ," we should _totally_ help set you up with other people. So, you can be just as happy as we are."

Santana looked over at Charlie for a moment, "We are going to the Yule Ball together," Santana says with a wave of her hand.

"We are?" Charlie clears her throat when Santana shoots her a look. She was certain that Santana had said that it was lame and she wouldn't be caught dead there. She rubs the back of her neck.

"All Head Girls _have_ to attend and Charlie's a Head Girl, last time I checked. Since Charlie is going alone and I'm going alone—"

"Everyone knows you two are _dating_ , _everyone_. There is _literally_ no point in the two of you trying to pretend that you're not." Rachel snapped at Santana who flashed an amused grin. "Even _Finn_ knows!"

Finn blinked he didn't know why people were picking on him today.

"You both go off together, and if you think that no one notices all the eye-fucking you do at dinner, then you're sorely mistaken, it makes nearly everyone uncomfortable," Quinn adds. "And will the two of you stop pranking each other's houses as a form of foreplay? You know it's going to get out of hand, or you'll both be expelled."

"They're not pranking each other's houses, they're pranking their houses," Brittany reiterates, practicing a charm. No one was asking the right questions and they could deny and deflect. "I think you two make an awesome couple but you need to stop pretending that you're not."

"I get the Slytherin's don't like it, but honestly Charlie you really need to take a page from Frannie's book, make them to terrified of you to do anything about it but grumble," Quinn said firmly.

Santana inhaled sharply and grabs Charlie's arm, "We don't have to take this. Come on Charlie, you'll help me with my Transfiguration homework somewhere else."

"Study date?" Finn asks flinching when Santana wheels around and shoots him a sharp glare.

Quinn snorted, "Excellent guess."

 **~O~**

Santana Lopez tightened her grip on Charlie's arm, they were _late_. Not even _fashionably_ late, and it was completely and utterly Charlie's fault. She loved Charlie, but if they were going to make this statement, they both needed to be perfect, and Charlie's wild hair wasn't going to cut it. It had taken a few house elves and taking Charlie's wand away before they had managed to tame the wild beast, and she knew her girlfriend was sulking. "I said I'll make it up to you tonight."

Charlie puffs, she wasn't a big fan of what Santana had done to her hair, and she didn't really want to think about it that much or she'd be in a mood and this was supposed to be a _happy_ occasion. Everyone was finally going to know that they were dating, she suspected that they already knew and she didn't quite understand why this was such a big deal to Santana, but she would do anything to make Santana happy. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Charlie asks as she mutters to Santana, pulling her aside away from the music that was pulsating from the great room.

"The Gryffindor's don't really care and I think a few of them know, I'm more worried about the other Slytherin's. I mean Mercedes knows and we both know how big a gossip she is," Santana sighs. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Santana I'm the best duelist in my year, and most of them still remember who my family is, I'll be fine. But if a Gryffindor messes with you or _says_ anything—"

"I can defend myself, we've been practicing dueling remember?" Santana reminds her, reaching for Charlie's hand. "I know what I said last year but this is our _final_ year here and as fun as sneaking into the sex dungeon is—" Santana grins when Charlie rolls her eyes. "I do want everyone to know that you're mine, and I'm yours."

"Well we'll have to ignore our friends then, they'll just look at us funny and there will be a few 'I knew its,' which will totally ruin the mood." Charlie said with a sigh. She glances at the Great Hall nervously for a moment before looking at Santana, "So, there's something about me that I think you should know before we head in there."

"I know you can't dance Charlie, Brittany told me _all_ about it," Santana laughed as she tugged Charlie towards the Yule Ball. "Don't worry, I've got you."

"Oh good, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to jinx myself, with some dancing spell that I found." Charlie exhales and follows Santana, matching her stride when they finally reach the doors to the Great Hall. The doors suddenly open and she can feel Santana tighten her hold on their hand as everyone in the room turns to look at them for one long moment before everyone immediately goes back to what they were doing.

Santana blinks, "That's it?" She had expected far more gawking, and a few whispered comments but everyone was _ignoring_ them.

Charlie smiled, Brittany had probably been right that _everyone_ knew. "Well, you have my attention all night and forever if that's what you want."

"You know I love you Charlie, but I'm not sure about _forever_ right now. I do just want to enjoy this moment that we have together—basically I'm curious to see how terrible you are at dancing."

"I _knew_ I should have used that jinx," Charlie grumbled shaking her head as she pulls Santana closer to her. "Don't hold it against me if I step on your toes, you know I love you." Charlie mumbled into Santana's ear enjoying the fact that she shivered at the action.

"Well then _try_ not to bruise my toes," Santana laughs as Charlie spins her around. She doesn't hesitate to lean forward and kiss Charlie firmly on the lips, wrapping her arms around her neck.


	8. Epilogue

"Where is she?" Quinn hissed, she was about ready to break out into hives. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, or at least up there. She was getting married to Rachel and one of her _three_ sisters was missing. People would understand Frannie not showing up, but Frannie was currently flipping through a magazine being incredibly unhelpful and Brittany was giving her dress the once over. A job she would have entrusted to her mother, but her mother had gone to find the missing Fabray.

"I'm pretty sure you banished her from your wedding, because she got bored at the rehearsal dinner last night and decided to prank Santana," Brittany said unhelpfully, shrugging off Quinn's icy glare.

"That's because Charlie's a _child!_ " Quinn said throwing her hands up in the air. "We all know it. She's nearly twenty-five and sure she's got a job as a Hit wizard but she enjoys pranking her _girlfriend_ and seems honestly surprised that Santana might not want to _marry_ her."

"They're getting married," Frannie said flipping through her magazine.

"I don't see what—"

"They're in _love_ ," Brittany said shaking her head. "Santana loves Charlie and Charlie adores and loves Santana."

"But all they do is _prank_ each other!"

"That's their thing. Charlie gets bored, hits Santana with a prank and then Santana gets annoyed and hits Charlie back _harder_. The two of them spend most of their time dueling as means of _foreplay_. Which is probably why Charlie's the best Hit Wizard we have. Santana's recent promotion in the Department of Mysteries has only added to their reputation—"

"It's _my_ wedding!"

"I'm sure Charlie understands that," Brittany said coming to Charlie's defense.

"Don't worry mom's going to confiscate her wand for the duration of the wedding, Santana's parents are doing the same."

Quinn huffs at this, she just wanted a simple ceremony, where she didn't have to worry about Charlie's attention waning and her doing something like making Rachel puke slugs or something childish and gross like that. "Well then where is she?"

"Sex." Brittany and Frannie say at the same time.

" _Seriously_?" Quinn groaned.

"Why are you so upset? Mom's totally going to bust them and drag Charlie in here by her ear, and she'll behave."

"She'd better," Quinn mumbles. Today had to be perfect.

 **~O~**

Santana grunted as she flopped on the bed beside Charlie and pinches her hard. "Charlie I am not going to Rachel's wedding with a _penis_ , because you wanted to have sex."

Charlie flashes Santana a grin, rolling over to look at Santana's newest appendage. It had been a surprise attack while Santana was taking a shower, and the latest forty minutes had been _pure_ heaven. "You _really_ need to work on your transfiguration, this is like _super_ basic stuff."

" _Sure_ , and you'll make dinner for a month. It's _basic_ potions, oh wait I forgot you're _terrible_ at following simple instructions," Santana grumbles, but she flashes a smile when Charlie changes her body back.

"You won't eat anything that I cook, and I do know how to make a _sandwich_."

"Asking our house elf to make you a sandwich _isn't_ knowing how to make a sandwich Charlie. And don't think I'm not aware that you give the poor thing a ton of candy as bribery."

"He _told you_?"

"No, but you just did." Santana rolled her eyes. She didn't actually mind that Charlie gave him candy, he was loyal person. She flicked her eyes to the clock on the wall, "We're going to be late for your sister's wedding," she observed lazily not making any movement to get up. "She's probably having a coronary."

"Probably," Charlie agrees. "The wedding is at noon, so long as we show up on time for the wedding, I'm sure Quinn won't attempt to murder me."

"I still don't know why we _have_ to do this, they weren't there for our wedding," Santana grumbles finally sitting up.

"You're the one who thought it'd be funny if we got married in secret and never told anyone." Charlie reminded Santana.

"You went along with it!"

"It's still pretty funny," Charlie shrugs her shoulders, and smiles. "But we should probably end the joke soon, and have a wedding on our anniversary or something, so that our parents don't kill us for getting married without them."

"I'm just surprised Brittany hasn't figured it out yet. We've been married for two years," Santana reminded Charlie who shrugs once more. " _Charlie_."

"We could spring it on them now, but that would ruin Quinn's day and I'm not _that_ terrible of a sister. I mean I am, I did turn Finn into an owl and I haven't turned him back yet." Charlie froze as she remembered that she had done something _terrible_. " _Shit_ , I turned Finn into an _owl_."

"I heard—you're going to get reprimanded again," Santana sighs leaning in to kiss Charlie's cheek. "Turn him back before the wedding."

" _But_ think about it, they turn to see Finn with the rings but he's an owl and—"

Santana glared at Charlie. "Turn him back _before_ the wedding."

" _Ugh_ , you never let me have any fun." Charlie says flopping back onto the bed.

"I let you give me a _dick_ , and then I let you _ride_ me," Santana retorts. "You've had _plenty_ of fun, now get dressed."

Charlie laughs, this was _true_. "You were very good with it, in fact—"

" _Dressed_ Charlie. If Quinn kills you I'm not going to cry at your funeral. I will however wait an appropriate length of time before I find someone else."

"How long is an appropriate length of time?"

"A month," Santana retorts flatly. Smirking at the horrified look on Charlie's face. "I'm joking."

"I don't think you are. I should be like the love of your life, I'm pretty sure you made those vows."

"Well how long would you wait?" Santana presses.

"I wouldn't. Because I would never get married again," Charlie shrugs her shoulders. Santana was it for her, she wasn't going to find someone who fit her better or got her sense of humor, or someone who could keep up with her in a duel. "Who else is going to put up with me?"

"Our house elf," Santana smiles as Charlie makes a face. "We should tell them."

Charlie sighs. "We should. At the reception?"

"At the reception, after they sneak off to have sex," Santana laughs.


End file.
